This chapter is essentially chapter 16 of the original version. It is, for the most part, unchanged.
Chapter 10: Task Force Whiskey
Heliopolis Station, High Orbit, Actium
May 6, 2545
1057
Spaatz
The boxy forms of the over three dozen ships that made up Task Force Whiskey soaring through the void made for one impressive sight, however Spaatz was far too busy to be able to enjoy it.
"Kanin: all battle groups, report in," Spaatz barked over the sound of his staff going about their duties.
"Yes, sir. Command to all call signs: all battle groups, report in."
"This is Task Force Gold, standing by."
"Task Force Blue, standing by."
"Task Force Red, standing by."
"Task Force Gray: we're green across the board!"
All across Spaatz's tactical display, green lights began to light up, indicating the forces of TF Whiskey were ready for battle. Spaatz could sense Kanin turning in his direction.
"Sir? All battle groups are primed and ready."
"Understood. Time to contact?"
"Five minutes, sir."
"Any movement from the Covenant?"
"No, sir. But I doubt they don't see us coming."
"Of course," Spaatz muttered under his breath. "Task force this size, the only way the Covenant would miss our approach was if they were blind, deaf, and dumb."
Kanin didn't respond even though Spaatz knew he would have heard him, and Spaatz resisted the urge to sigh, doing his best to maintain the image of a calm and collected commander who had total control of the entire situation. Unfortunately, that couldn't be further from the truth.
Since the beginning of the battle, Task Force Whiskey had been steadily growing in size with the influx of reinforcements to the system. At this point, TF Whiskey consisted of two Epoch-class heavy carriers, one Valiant-class super-heavy cruiser, five Vindication-class battleships, dozens of support corvettes, frigates, and destroyers, two Air Force Mukerjee-class aircraft carriers, hundreds of gunships and fighters, as well as several dozen orbital platforms and blue-water naval assets from the Actium Navy. It was one of the largest and most powerful fleets Spaatz had ever commanded in his entire military career. He had, at his fingertips, enough firepower to take a page out of the Covenant's book and systematically extinguish all life on Actium with a single volley if he had been so inclined.
However, as terrifying as that statement may have sounded, Spaatz had reason to believe that it wasn't going to be enough.
"Sir, the Covenant are beginning to react to our approach."
Spaatz nodded as, on his screen, a wave of red dots broke away from the main Covenant formation and began speeding towards his forces. Zooming in, Spaatz could see the wave was mostly comprised of the one-man fighters and gunboats, with the occasional light cruiser mixed in for support, all of which consisted of the Covenant's outer layer of defenses.
"All battle groups, maintain course," Spaatz ordered.
The problem was - and it was a problem that had continually plagued the UNSC since the start of this war - was that Covenant warships simply outclassed their UNSC counterparts in every single way. Covenant ships were stronger and more heavily armored than any UNSC ship in service. The only chance the UNSC ever had for winning was by achieving local superiority in numbers, as well as utilizing better tactics. With TF Whiskey, Spaatz had the numbers, but the tactics may be harder to come by.
Spaatz's strategic objective was fairly straightforward: in order to cripple the Covenant invasion fleet, he estimated he needed to disable, if not outright destroy, at least half the Covenant's capital ships. He had chosen this exact moment to launch his attack because with the Covenant's battlecruisers and ORS heavy cruiser holding station over their landing site, depositing ground troops onto the surface of Actium at a frantic pace via a gravity lift, they were at their most vulnerable. Unfortunately, from the way the Covenant fleet had been deployed, it was clear the commander of the Covenant invasion fleet also realized that.
From the moment those capital ships had taken to the field, every other Covenant ship already in the system had immediately broken contact and fallen back to form a defensive "bubble" around the cruisers. There were three primary defensives layers, with the battlecruisers themselves occupying the innermost layer, all the Covenant destroyers occupying the middle layer, and finally all the corvettes occupying the outermost layer, with every single fighter, gunboat, and most of their light cruisers establishing a fighter screen.
In short, in order for Spaatz to even get within firing range of the Covenant capital ships, he would need to fight his way through every single Covenant ship already in the system.
It was a daunting task, one that seemed almost impossible. Still, Spaatz had to try. The fate of billions depended on it.
Fortunately, Spaatz had a plan
"Three minutes until the lead units reach maximum effective range of their weapons, sir," Kanin reported.
Spaatz nodded. "Task Force Gold, standby to engage," he commanded and he could hear Kanin repeating the order over the radio.
On screen, Spaatz watched as the fighters of TF Gold began to pour out of their carriers like a swarm of angry bees whose hive had just been kicked. Task Force Gold, consisting of two Air Force Mukerjee-class aircraft carriers (UNSCs Iqbal and Löwenhardt,) and reinforced by a host of Navy frigates and corvettes, constituted the lightest of Spaatz's battle groups in terms of raw firepower and as such, was currently serving as the UNSC's vanguard and main skirmishing line. Their mission objective was simple: disrupt the Covenant battle formation so heavier units could exploit the chaos.
"One minute until contact, sir," Kanin announced.
Waving his hand in acknowledgement, Spaatz reached out and activated his radio.
"Admiral Spaatz to General Carter," he said.
"Go for Carter," came the immediate response.
"General Carter: commence Operation: MONSOON RAIN."
"Understood, sir. Task Force Gold Actual to all Task Force Gold call signs: commence the attack!"
Through his display, Spaatz watched as the hundreds of fighters assigned to TF Gold broke away from the rest of the task force, followed closely by their assigned naval support ships, which in turn were followed by the Air Force aircraft carriers. The massive group started to head straight towards the Covenant at flank speed, with their fighters quickly pulling ahead of their capital ships.
The two masses of fighters rushed at each other, quickly closing the distance and getting closer to firing range by the second. But whereas the Covenant were beginning to visibly slow down to attack speed, the UNSC fighters were, if anything, speeding up.
Spaatz leaned in closer to his screen. At the speeds those fighters were traveling, obtaining a firing solution on the Covenant even with missiles would prove to be extremely difficult, which made Spaatz wonder how TF Gold planned to work around that. The problem was, while it was Spaatz's job to set the strategic objectives for TF Gold, the "what" of the battle, it was up to the individual commanders to determine the tactics necessary to achieve those objectives, or in other words, the "how" of the battle. Because of that, Spaatz had no idea what the commander of TF Gold was planning.
"Thirty seconds to contact."
Abruptly the Covenant fighters all open fired! A virtual wave of plasma headed straight for the UNSC fighters!
As expected, the fighters waited until the last possible second to start deploying countermeasures but strangely enough, they failed to break formation to begin evasive maneuvers, and Spaatz couldn't help but wince as a number of dots suddenly blinked out of existence from his screen. What were they doing?
"How soon before the Covenant are in range of those fighters?" Spaatz asked, glancing at Kanin.
"Covenant is in range now, sir," Kanin reported and Spaatz automatically braced himself, but instead of firing, the UNSC fighters just kept flying straight in.
"Are they... trying to close in to dogfighting range?" Spaatz asked out loud and out of the corner of his eye, he could see Kanin shaking his head.
"I have no idea, sir. But the Covenant certainly seem to think so," Kanin pointed out and indeed, even as they continued to fire, the Covenant were hastily pairing off in a standard dogfighting formation.
The UNSC fighters got to within knife fighting range of the Covenant, but then, in a move that took everyone by surprise, sped right passed them.
"What the..."
Spaatz watched as every single one of the UNSC fighters slip right past the Covenant. Some of the Covenant started to turn around to pursue, but with most of TF Gold's navy support warships closing in, most of the Covenant opted to try and take advantage of a lack of fighter screen and attack those ships directly. Spaatz could see explosions lighting up the hulls of his warships as the Covenant began their attack.
"Why is Task Force Gold throwing away their fighter support and letting the enemy attack their warships directly? That goes against just about every military manual in existence," Spaatz started to note, but then paused as he noticed the warships weren't even fighting back. Instead, like the fighters before them, they were doing their best to punch right through the Covenant lines, even if it was costing them dozens of casualties by allowing the Covenant free hits.
Confused, Spaatz zoomed his screen out to see where his ships were going, only to see them heading straight for the Covenant's second line of defense, the SDV-class heavy corvettes and the location where most of the Covenant fighters had deployed from.
Covenant corvettes were some of the most versatile ships the Covenant had in their arsenal, being equipped for both anti-ship warfare and anti-fighter warfare. What they were not equipped to do was engage both at the same time, which is why they often deployed with fighter support of their own. With UNSC forces having completely blown past their fighter screen, and confronted with both fighters and warships advancing on their position, the corvettes hesitated, unable to decide who to engage first.
For that mistake, the Covenant paid dearly. TF Gold's warships promptly opened fire at maximum range, unloading several volleys of MAC rounds and Archer missiles at every single corvette present. At the same time, UNSC fighters finally broke off into separate flights and began launching attack runs on the damaged corvettes. The area lit up with plasma fire as the corvettes returned fire but for some of them, it was already too late: at least one corvette had already been destroyed while another two were clearly floundering.
In the meantime, realizing the danger, every Covenant fighter started turning around to return to their motherships. But before they could get far, explosions began lighting up the void as anti-aircraft fire began sweeping through their ranks. Advancing on their positions were TF Gold's two Air Force carriers and their gunship escorts. Without hesitating, they plunged among the ranks of the Covenant fighters, taking advantage of their confusion and causing the entire formation to immediately dissolve into chaos.
Watching the scene unfold in front of him, Spaatz couldn't help but be impressed by the boldness of Task Force Gold's commander. Placing aircraft carriers right in the thick of all the fighting was the opposite of what most commanders would have done. Heck, it was the complete opposite thing he would have done as, despite their size, carriers simply lacked the armor or the firepower of most conventional flagships, such as battleships and cruisers. Because of that, most commanders - both Air Force and Navy ones - tried to keep their carriers far from the fighting, preferring to use them in their intended role as mere transports for other vessels.
But here, it was clear Task Force Gold's commander intended to use them more like mobile antiaircraft platforms, tying down the Covenant fighters while allowing the rest of their forces to attack the Covenant warships with impunity. It was a bold and risky strategy on the TF Gold commander's part as the Covenant fighters could easily overwhelm their carriers' defenses, but from the looks of it, it was working: the entire outer layer of the Covenant's defenses were being thrown into chaos as the Covenant scrambled to redeploy their forces in response to the situation at hand.
"Who's the commander in charge of Task Force Gold?" Spaatz asked Kanin without looking away from his screen. "This... General Carter?"
"Brigadier General Samantha Carter sir," Kanin informed him. "Commissioned twenty six years ago from the service academy, she was initially commissioned as a fighter pilot, though after obtaining a doctorate in astrophysics, she was transferred to CLASSIFIED program in 2532. The next ten years of her service record is classified, sir. Her record picks up again in 2542, when she was promoted to the rank of Colonel and transferred to the UNSC Suzan Iqbal to serve as her commanding officer. Six months ago she was promoted to Brigadier General and appointed commanding officer of the Air Force's No. 19 Strategic Airlift Group."
Spaatz nodded his head. He briefly wondered what this "classified" program she had worked on for most of her military career was. In this day and age, it was probably something to do with the Covenant, though Spaatz had heard rumblings that the Air Force was taking the lead on research about another alien species, one that supposedly predated the Covenant. Spaatz never gave the rumors much heed though; he preferred to fight his alien invaders one at a time, thank you very much.
Whatever the case was, it was had clearly taught her how to think unconventionally, something Spaatz felt was desperately needed in this war.
"Send a copy of Carter's CSV to my records," Spaatz commanded. "The ones I have access too, of course. And make an annotation; I'm curious to see where General Carter's career takes her."
"Yes, sir."
With that done, Spaatz turned his attention back to the battle at hand. TF Gold was starting to take a fair amount of casualties as the Covenant started getting their fleet reorganized, however the damage was already done: the Covenant's defensive line had been considerably weakened. It was time to drive the nail in.
"Kanin, signal Task Force Blue," Spaatz instructed. "Inform Admiral Ozzel he may begin Phase II with my compliments."
"Yes, sir. Signaling now... Task Force Blue has received and is beginning their attack now, sir."
Outside, about half of the ships that remained of TF Whiskey began to break away from the main force. Consisting of one Valiant-class super-heavy cruiser (UNSC Vanguard,) and two Epoch-class navy heavy carriers (UNSCs Liaoning and São Paulo,) as well as all their escorts, TF Blue was a blend of mobility and firepower, with the scales leaning more towards the firepower end. They were going to need that firepower as their goal was a bit more complicated: while TF Gold's job had simply been to disrupt the Covenant's formation, it was TF Blue's job to actually penetrate their defenses.
Spaatz watched as TF Blue's ships soared over Actium's crest and began speeding in the direction of the Covenant. Their formation was a bit more of a conventional layout, but still effective, with the Vanguard in the lead and the carriers following up the rear.
Task Force Blue quickly approached the area where Task Force Gold and the Covenant's outer layer of defenses were entangled in a mortal struggle of life and death. Coming up from below to avoid collision with the ships from TF Gold, they headed straight for the Covenant's secondary line of defense. A single heavy corvette broke away from the fighting to try and intercept them, but before the ship could reach, the Vanguard opened up.
The corvette's shields were instantly disabled as three MAC rounds slammed into it in rapid succession. The corvette retaliated by launching three plasma torpedoes and started to fire her plasma cannons, but before they could get off more than a single burst, a volley of Ares missiles fired by the Vanguard slammed into the plasma cannons, destroying them instantly. Both ships began exchanging fire at a frantic pace, but the amount of weapons the Vanguard carried, coupled with fire support from her escort frigates, meant it was an exchange the corvette had no chance of winning.
While this exchange was happening though, the three plasma torpedoes continued to head straight for Vanguard at high speeds. Firing a series of missile directly in their path, the Vanguard was able to destroy one of the torpedoes. The second was diverted by a number of decoys the Vanguard fired, however the third and last torpedo continued along its path, undeterred. The projectile slammed into the super-heavy cruiser's dorsal forward bow section, leaving scorch marks and melted armor in its wake, but failing to do much more than that.
Ignoring the damage, the Vanguard and her escorts proceeded to reduce the assaulting corvette to nothing more than a pile of molten slag. Still, the delay, however brief, had been worth the loss of one entire warship as it had given the Covenant enough time to shift a number of their destroyers to a position where they could confront the advancing ships of TF Blue. Even as TF Blue quickly reformed and resumed their advance, they began getting raked with plasma fire as an entire squadron of two CPV-class Covenant heavy destroyers and one RPV-class light destroyer started shooting at them.
Plasma bolts and energy beams flashed across the void as the Covenant engaged with everything they had. TF Blue wasn't taking it lying down though, returning fire with missiles and heavy MAC rounds, as well as deploying all sorts of countermeasures and igniting their emergency thrusters to throw off the Covenant gunners' aim.
Most of the Covenant fire was directed at the cruiser, which bore the brunt of the attack without much issue. However, switching to a real-time view, Spaatz could see the plasma bolts steadily eating its way through her armor, stripping the ship of her defenses to the point where it wouldn't be that difficult for something heavier to punch right through. And sure enough, all sorts of warning signs began flashing across Spaatz's screen as the destroyers began launching a vast array of plasma torpedoes at Task Force Blue.
"How many plasma torpedoes did the Covenant just launch?" Spaatz demanded to know, his attention fixated on the action.
"I count five sir. Now six- seven! Seven torpedoes, in the air, sir!"
Spaatz sharply inhaled. Seven torpedoes was more than enough to reduce an entire battleship to slag. And with the way TF Blue had been launching countermeasures earlier like they'd been going out of style, Spaatz wasn't sure how much they had left.
He anxiously watched as the torpedoes speed towards the Vanguard. The ship quickly took action, beginning evasive maneuvers and firing missiles directly at the torpedoes to try and cause them to prematurely detonate. Explosions filled the vacuum as one by one, torpedoes began to detonate, but it wasn't enough; too many torpedoes were still getting through.
But as the remaining torpedoes closed the distance, the Vanguard abruptly ceased fire. Before Spaatz could inquire as to what the hell Ozzel was doing, all of TF Blue's escort frigates suddenly surged forward, and Spaatz numbly watched as they placed themselves between the torpedoes and the cruiser. On his display, the symbols representing those ships began dropping like flies as the torpedoes easily tore through the much lighter ships, destroying quite a few of them, but leaving the cruiser relatively unscathed.
At that sight, Spaatz couldn't help but shake his head in dismay. Rear Admiral Ozzel had a reputation for being a rather aggressive and stubborn commander, always looking for a fight and never refusing to back down, no matter the odds. His bullheaded nature had allowed him to blunder his way to victory through a number of rather difficult battles in the past, which helped him climb the ranks, but it had also given him a reputation of being a rather ruthless and uncaring commander who cared more about obtaining personal glory than the men and women under his command. Seeing the almost casual way Ozzel had just thrown away his escorts to ensure his capital ships remained fully operational, Spaatz could tell Ozzel's reputation wasn't completely undeserved.
Still, Spaatz found he couldn't entirely fault Ozzel. With a battle like this where so much was at stake and both sides being almost equal in strength, the need to hit the Covenant with enough speed and force to knock them off balance was paramount to victory. And that couldn't be accomplished if the UNSC's strongest ships were running at less than full strength, so some sacrifice was needed. Still, Spaatz couldn't help but wonder if there hadn't been some other way besides allowing so much loss of life.
At any case and at the very least, the Vanguard was trying to take advantage of the sacrifice of her escorts. She aggressively advanced towards the destroyers, and it was clear the crew of the Vanguard was out looking for blood. She open fired on one of the heavy destroyers, quickly stripping away the destroyer's shields with missiles, and then systematically began pounding the ship with MAC shells.
The destroyer's armor managed to absorb at least three hits before their reactor was abruptly breached by a lucky MAC shot. The destroyer disintegrated as her reactor went critical, sending shrapnel rippling out in every direction, and causing massive damage to another destroyer that had been holding formation just a bit more closely than what would have been considered wise. Like a shark that suddenly smelled blood, the Vanguard abruptly zeroed in on the damaged destroyer, and started hammering it with shells.
The remaining Covenant destroyer weren't being idle while all this was going down though. While the Vanguard was busy finishing off the wounded destroyer, the last destroyer of the squadron was maneuvering around to approach them from the sides or the rear where, due to its design, the MACs wouldn't be able to target her, at least not without turning the entire ship around. Preoccupied with her target and having sacrificed most of her escorts, there was nothing the Vanguard could do to stop them.
As Spaatz watched, the sole Covenant light destroyer started approaching the Vanguard from "above." Brushing off the fire that a nearby UNSC frigate was laying down as it desperately tried to prevent the destroyer from firing its weapons, Spaatz could see a massive amount of energy swirling at the destroyer's forward bow as she prepared to fire her energy projector at the space equivalent of point-blank range into the Vanguard. But before she could, the destroyer was abruptly struck by a couple of MAC rounds, knocking her off course.
Tracing the shells back to their source, Spaatz spotted TF Blue's assigned carriers taking to field. Unlike General Carter, Ozzel had opted to use his carriers in a more conventional way, keeping them behind his warships and only bring them forward to provide support, even though Navy carriers were far better equipped for ship-to-ship combat than Air Force ones as each ship was armed with a single MAC.
Fighters began pouring from the carriers, lending their support to the battle. Due to the amount of space the MACs and associated equipment took up, Navy carriers could only carry about half the amount of fighters their Air Force counterparts could despite being larger in size. Still, eighty some Longswords per carrier was nothing to scoff at, and Spaatz could see the Covenant destroyer squadron quickly buckling under the combined weight of all the UNSC ships. Though it was hard to tell in real time because of the distances involved, on his display, a noticeable hole was forming in the Covenant lines as a blue oasis in a sea of red dots began to bloom.
"Sir, it appears Task Force Blue has formally penetrated the Covenant defensive bubble. A direct attack route to the Covenant's capital ships is forming," Kanin reported. "Admiral Amarchih is requesting permission to have Task Force Red begin Phase III."
Spaatz started to nod his head, but then hesitated. There was something about this battle that had been bothering him since before Task Force Gold began their attack, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it. It was like... this entire battle was... almost... too easy.
Of course, that was a patently ridiculous thought. Covenant resistance was fierce, as it always was as evident by the ever mounting casualties both TF Gold and Blue were taking. And it's not like the situation was stable. While his forces were holding on to their positions for now, there was no denying their hold was tenuous at best. If he didn't order Task Force Red to begin their attack soon, the scales could easily tip in the Covenant's favor, and they would miss their chance at achieving their objective. There was nothing easy about this battle.
And yet, Spaatz couldn't help but think back to the old Navy adage: "if everything is going to plan, then an ambush is about to occur." That, coupled with this feeling that he had missed something, something very crucial to the success or failure of this battle, was causing Spaatz's sense of danger, honed by decades of military service, to trigger.
"Kanin, how many carriers and capital ships do Task Forces Gold and Blue have left?" Spaatz asked.
He could sense the confused look that appeared over Kanin's face, but he answered nevertheless.
"All of them, sir."
"Good. Create a new battle group, Task Force Green, and transfer control of the Liaoning and the Löwenhardt, as well as all their fighter wings and escorts to that group. Have Admiral Pike - Christopher that is, not Thomas - take command and order him to establish a rear guard at the edge of the fighting."
He glanced in Kanin's direction, only to see him with a rather bewildered look on his face.
"Sir," he slowly began, "with all due respect, removing several ships to establish an unnecessary rear guard in the middle of a battle is extremely inadvisable as it will considerably weaken Task Forces Gold and Blue's ability to maintain their positions in the event of a concerted Covenant counterattack. May I suggest we simply proceed with the attack?"
Normally, Spaatz tried to avoid being one of those commanders who demanded absolute obedience to the very letter of his every order. It had been his experience that sort of leadership almost always completely destroyed morale and highly discouraged individual initiative. In his opinion, if a commander wasn't capable of explaining the rationale behind an order, then it probably wasn't that good of an order to begin with.
However, under these circumstances, absolutely frustrated by his own inability to fully understand his own concerns, the last thing Spaatz wanted was someone questioning his orders.
"Kanin, just do it," he tersely snapped, doing his best to keep his aggravation from appearing in his voice. He didn't think he succeeded though because Kanin immediately went rigid.
"Sir. Yes, sir," was all he said though, and immediately turned away to execute Spaatz's commands.
Spaatz turned back to his screen, feeling just the tiniest bit guilty, but for the most part his mind was too preoccupied with the battle to give it much thought. He was missing something, something obvious, but as his ships began redeploying and Task Force Green was formed, he still couldn't figure out what "it" was.
"Sir, Admiral Pike has taken command of Task Force Green and has established a rear guard. However, the Covenant are beginning to press their attack against both Task Forces Gold and Blue. General Carter and Admiral Ozzel report they will be able to hold out, but not indefinitely. If Task Force Red is to attack, respectfully, sir, they need to do it now," Kanin reported out loud, before leaning in closer, close enough Spaatz could start to count the individual hairs that constituted the fur on Kanin's face. "Sir, with all due respect, if you're not comfortable with giving the order, I can transfer control of the operation over to Admiral D'Amboise."
Spaatz immediately shook his head. "No, this is my responsibility. Furthermore, Admiral D'Amboise is too busy with the defense of the rest of the planet. It's why I've taken control of this battle in the first place."
"Well, then, sir, if you think this is a mistake, we can still call off the attack."
Spaatz had considered that, but unfortunately that wasn't an option.
"No," he finally said with a sigh. "This is probably our last opportunity to tip the balance of power in our direction. We need to attack, while we still have that chance. Give me a direct connection to Admiral Amarchih."
"You're online now, sir."
"Command to Task Force Red."
"Go ahead, Command!" the voice of Admiral Amarchih sounded over the radio.
"Commence the attack!"
"Yes, sir!" Amarchih immediately bellowed before clicking his radio off, and Spaatz turned to his screen, praying he hadn't just made a mistake.
On screen, the remaining ships of TF Whiskey ignited their thrusters and headed for the fight. Out of all the battle groups, TF Red was by far the most powerful. As they had been intended to confront the Covenant's most powerful ships in the system, Task Force Red appropriately consisted of five Vindication-class battleships (UNSCs Kilkis, Salamis, Lemnos, Fatih, and Reşadiye,) as well as all the assault carriers, light carriers, and Air Force attack transports in the system for support. It was Spaatz's hope that the sheer amount of firepower represented there would be enough to outright cripple, if not destroy, all four Covenant capital ships.
Spaatz watched through his screen as TF Red headed in the direction of the fighting. Through the combined efforts of both TFs Gold and Blue, a corridor through the Covenant lines had been established, though it wasn't exactly the safest. Stray plasma fire kept streaking through the dead space between ships, crisscrossing through the opening, plus a number of dogfights were taking place inside the corridor itself. As Task Force Red took to the field, her battleships were immediately set upon by an entire squadron of Seraphs.
"Warning: the Kilkis, Reşadiye, and Salamis are reporting incoming fighters," Kanin reported.
"Ignore them!" Spaatz heard Amarchih immediately order over the radio. "All battleships, continue the advance on those cruisers! All escort carriers: deploy your fighters!"
Spaatz crossed his arms and placed his hand against his chin in order to hide their trembling as he watched as the hangar doors to Task Force Red's escort ships slid open and dozens of spacecraft began deploying. While some of them were dedicated space fighters, a majority of them weren't: instead they were Pelican and Darter gunships.
The problem was, due to the need to not only defend the rest of the planet from Covenant incursions, but also the high demand of ships needed for this attack, Spaatz had simply run out of fleet carriers, destroyers, and frigates. To provide escorts to his battleships as well as a fighter screen, Spaatz had been forced to turn to his remaining Orion and Poseidon-class carriers, as well as the Air Force's attack transports, none of which were "true" aircraft carriers but instead, more like amphibious assault ships. Because of that, the majority of their assigned aircraft were dropships, not fighters.
He watched as his ships take a moment to pair up before rocketing off in the direction of the incoming Seraphs. But before they could get far, the Seraphs started shooting.
Spaatz could see what few Longswords in the mix easily dodging the incoming fire but for the dropships, the task was more difficult. Despite being far smaller targets than the Longswords, the dropships weren't equipped with all the maneuvering thrusters dedicated space fighters had and could barely respond in time. And in fact, some couldn't: explosions filled Spaatz's screen as at least two Pelicans and a Darter were immediately hit and instantly destroyed, their lighter armor not designed for firepower of that magnitude.
His Longswords quickly returned fire, but for his dropships, they had to wait until they were able to get closer. While the dropships had been reequipped with AAMs, again, because they were never intended for air to air combat, they didn't even have the long range sensors the Longswords did and had to rely on the seekers of each individual warhead to obtain a lock.
The Longswords had already managed to fire a second salvo before the dropships were even able to fire back. At that point, another five dropships had already been destroyed whereas none of the Seraphs had taken any damage. Finally coming within weapons range, the dropships opened up with everything they had, sending all sorts of missiles in the Seraphs' direction, most of which proved to be fairly useless as Seraph countermeasures went to work.
"Those dropships don't stand a chance against those Seraphs," Spaatz mentioned out loud to Kanin.
"No, sir. But we always knew this was going to happen, sir. That's why we made sure some Longswords were part of the screen," Kanin reminded him. "If the dropships can lay down enough fire, the Seraphs would hopefully be too distracted to notice the Longswords coming in to finish them off. And at any case, the Seraphs willbe too busy dealing with the small craft to worry about our battleships, which is the entire point of a fighter screen."
"I know," Spaatz murmured. Still, the sight of so much ships blinking out of existence on his screen bothered him greatly. "The sooner we finish this, the better. How soon until we come within maximum effective weapons range?"
"Thirty second, sir."
Spaatz glanced outside. Task Force Red had officially penetrated the Covenant's defenses; there were absolutely no more Covenant ships standing between them and the Covenant cruisers. It was time to finish this.
"Admiral Amarchih, as soon as those cruisers come within range, you may fire at will!" Spaatz barked out.
"Aye, sir! TAO, lock all weapons onto all four cruisers and prepare to fire."
"Kanin, bring up those cruisers on my screen," Spaatz commanded.
A 3D holographic image of all four Covenant cruisers suddenly appeared on Spaatz's tactical display. Task Force Red was approaching the ships from "above" and thus, Spaatz was able to plainly see all four cruisers floating over the skies of Actium.
The cruisers had adopted a sort of triangle formation: each one of the battlecruisers formed the corners and were holding position equal distance from each other, though the sensors did indicate each battlecruiser was actually floating at a different altitude. In the meantime, the heavy cruiser was positioned in the center of the triangle, directly over the Covenant landing site. Connect to a gravity lift, Spaatz could tell the Covenant were depositing all sorts of infantry and equipment onto the surface at a frantic pace. Spaatz knew his fleet had to take out those ships now, before UNSC defenses on the ground were overwhelmed by the Covenant Army.
"Kanin, give me an internal view of the Kilkis' CIC," Spaatz commanded, and his screen switched views in time for him to hear Amarchih command:
"Acala, designate those battlecruisers as targets 1-Delta, 2-Delta, and 3-Delta, and then designate that heavy cruiser as target 1-Echo." Immediately tags began appearing on each of the ships. "Signal the fleet, the following ships will engage the following cruiser: Kilkis and Salamis on 1-Delta, Lemnos and Fatih on 2-Delta, and the Reşadiye on 3-Delta. All battleships are to engage and keep firing until their targets are either disabled or destroy, then all ships will shift fire to target 1-Echo."
"Copy that, sir!"
"TAO, giving me a firing solution on 1-Delta, lock on all missile batteries, and be prepared to fire on my mark!"
"Aye, sir! Acquiring now! Target is… locked!"
"Standby!"
Spaatz leaned forward in anticipation of what was to come. The cruisers quickly began filling his screen as Task Force Red drew closer and closer to maximum effective firing range. Technically being in space, they could have engaged thirty minutes ago, but with the Covenant holding position over Actium, any MAC shot that failed to connect would have hit the surface and into UNSC held territory, causing massive damage. They had to get to a range where the Covenant wouldn't be able to dodge their shots so easily.
Although, at the moment, the Covenant didn't appear to be moving at all…
Spaatz frowned. Despite TF Red's very obvious approach, the Covenant hadn't broken formation at all. The battlecruisers' mission was no doubt to protect the heavy cruiser as she unloaded, but Spaatz would have thought it would have been in the Covenant's best interest to engage Task Force Red from as far away from the heavy cruiser as possible, so as to prevent the UNSC from coming within range. What were the Covenant doing?
Puzzled and more than a bit alarmed, Spaatz zoomed in on the battlecruiser the Kilkis was gunning for, target 1-Delta. As he did, he noticed something was a little off about the cruiser. For one thing, it was pointed in the wrong direction, with its ventral hull facing down towards Actium, meaning the ship wouldn't be able to use their heavy energy projectors against the approaching battleships. And second, there appeared to have a number of structures installed on the dorsal side of the battlecruiser's hull, structures that looked familiar, but Spaatz just couldn't identify at the moment…
"Target in range!" the Kilkis' TAO suddenly yelled out.
"All batteries, FIRE! All ships, FIRE!" Amarchih roared.
The Kilkis immediately fired all three of her MACs, as well as sending hundreds of Archer missiles in the direction of the Covenant. At the same time, so did every other battleship assigned to Task Force Red. It was singlehandedly one of the largest salvos Spaatz had ever see in his life: fifteen Mark IV heavy MAC rounds, twelve hundred Archer missiles, and over seven thousand 50mm shells were thrown in the direction of the Covenant. Spaatz watched with bated breath as the ordnance quickly streaked across the void towards the Covenant –
- and caused the shields on all ships to light up as the shells struck home, but doing nothing else.
Spaatz frowned. He would have thought all of that ordnance would have at least disabled the shields. Battlecruisers were strong, but surely they weren't that strong.
"Second salvo!" Amarchih bellowed. "Fire when ready!"
Flames spat out from the front of the Kilkis as she fired all three of her MACs again. A split second later, the other half of the battleship's arsenal of Archer missiles was sent following in its wake. Again, the ordnance streaked across the void and slammed into the Covenant, and again their shields flashed into existence, but nothing else happened.
"What the hell..." Spaatz muttered, that feeling of alarm growing by the second. He glance at Amarchih, who appeared to be just as confused as he felt.
"TAO!" Amarchih started, then hesitated. "Fire... fire a third salvo! Maybe the third time's a charm!"
"Yes, sir!" Kilkis' TAO replied, and Spaatz could see the man licking his lips in nervousness. "Firing main battery!"
The Kilkis fired again. The MAC rounds smashed into the Covenant cruiser and again, nothing happened. A number of nervous murmurings began to break out among Spaatz's staff as they all watched TF Red's rounds smash ineffectively against the Covenant's shields.
For his part, Spaatz was going his best to keep his panic under his control.
"Kanin," he barked. "Are our sensors calibrated correctly? We do see these cruisers in front of us, and we are hitting them, are we not?"
"We are, sir," Kanin replied, sounding as much of a loss as anyone. "And the sensors are reading properly."
"Then how have those shields not been disabled yet!? We've already hit them with more energy output than a single ODP super MAC would have!?"
"I have no idea, sir, all I know is I'm not even reading a fluctuation in their shield strength."
"Admiral Spaatz!"
Spaatz jerked and glanced over in Amarchih's direction. "Yes?"
"Sir, permission to hit the Covenant with a Shiva?" he asked, and Spaatz could hear the slight desperation creeping into the man's voice.
"Granted! You're cleared to engage with Shivas. Go nuclear!"
"Understood, sir! TAO, load up Shivas in tubes one and three! Comms, signal the Salamis to do the same and standby to fire on my mark!"
"Sir, nukes are primed and ready!"
"Standby... FIRE!"
Spaatz held his breath as two missiles departing from their vertical launch systems mounted on the Kilkis' dorsal hull and rapidly speed in the direction of the Covenant, being joined by two other missiles launched by the Salamis. He leaned forward as he waited for the Covenant to evade, or launch decoys, or return fire, or do something but they just sat there, waiting for... what exactly? Spaatz had no idea but suddenly, he realized he had no interest in waiting around to find out.
"Fall back."
"Excuse me, sir?"
Spaatz snapped his head in Kanin's direction. "Fall back! Kanin, signal a general withdraw, I want all battle groups to fall back to our launch position! Initiate a withdraw, NOW!"
"Sir, I -"
Whatever Kanin was about to say was cut off when there was a brilliant flash of white light as the Shivas struck home. Spaatz glanced back at his screen, only to see target 1-Delta emerging completely unscathed and he couldn't help but gap. How...?
"Sir, I'm detecting some sort of movement around target 1-Echo!" Kanin suddenly bellowed.
"What type of movement!?" Spaatz demanded as he hastily glanced at his screen in time to see some sort of… shimmering field dissipating around the heavy cruiser revealing...
"It appears to be... ships?"
At that very moment, two realizations suddenly struck Spaatz, and he abruptly realized what he'd been forgetting. One: if UNSC High Command had been able to send Spaatz reinforcements in the form of multiple battleship strike groups, then why hadn't the Covenant done the same? Two: ORS-class heavy cruisers were known for, among other things, their stealth capabilities.
The stealth field around the heavy cruiser abruptly dissipated, whether because it had been disrupted by the radiation from the Shivas or because the Covenant decided the jig was up he didn't know, but it revealed an entirely new Covenant battle group that had previously gone undetected.
In that instant –
"Admiral, I'm detecting enemy ships in sector forty-seven!" one of Heliopolis' technicians screamed, but who he was talking to Spaatz never figured out because he immediately added, "They're launching fighters!"
At the same time, a small robotic voice chimed, "Slipspace rupture detected."
"Sir, I'm detecting an entire Covenant fleet emerging from slipspace on our six!" Kanin warned. "We're under attack!"
"Admiral! Emergency message from Admiral Ozzel: the Covenant are launching a massive counterattack against his battle group! He's requesting reinforcements otherwise he won't be able to hold!"
"Alert! Covenant battlecruisers are rotating on their longitudinal axis. I'm detecting a massive surge of energy: they're charging weapons!"
Spaatz sucked in a huge breath of air as his worst nightmare was suddenly coming to life. The Covenant commander had set the stage masterfully, and despite his misgivings, Spaatz had fallen for it hook, line, and sinker. There was no other way to put it: he had fucked up. The only thing left to do was to minimize the bleeding.
"Kanin, alert Admiral Pike: Task Force Green is to counterattack immediately!" Spaatz roared. "I don't care if he has to sacrifice every single one of his ships to do it, but he is to hold the rear door open so the rest of the Task Force can get out! Signal General Carter, she is to take her ship, all her naval support and immediately reinforce Task Force Green's position! The rest of her force, send to Task Force Blue and HOLD THAT CORRIDOR!"
"Acala, command the UNSCs Lemnos and Reşadiye to envelope right and provide covering fire while the rest of the battleships retreat! Captain Yirenkyi, get us the fuck out of here! Admiral Spaatz, we need covering fire!"
"Copy! Task Force Gray, target those cruisers and FIRE AT WILL!"
All sorts of alarms were howling now, both on Heliopolis Station as well as the Kilkis, and crewmen were running around, trying to extract themselves and their friends from the situation they found themselves in. There was no hiding it now: the scent of panic was flooding the air.
For his part, Spaatz was frantically pouring over his screens, trying to figure out if there was something he could do as, outside, both the Lemnos and the Reşadiye surged towards the enemy cruisers, firing everything they had in an attempt to keep the Covenant ships off balance long enough for the rest of the task force to withdraw. At the same time, missiles were rising from the surface of Actium and heading for the same target: covering fire from the missile submarines of the Actium Navy that made up the bulk of Task Force Gray's firepower.
All sorts of projectiles smashed against the battlecruisers' shields, but it wasn't enough to deter them from finishing their half turn on their longitudinal axis.
"INCOMING!"
The cruisers fired and a bright blue beam lit up the void.
"Fuck! The Reşadiye been hit! Reşadiye is down, I say again, THE REŞADIYE IS DOWN!"
Spaatz glanced at the screen to see the Reşadiye slowly beginning to fall apart. The energy projector had slammed right into the Reşadiye's nose and burned its way lengthwise through the entire ship. Spaatz started to give the order to scramble the search and rescue Pelicans when the Reşadiye abruptly exploded, possibly because her armory went up, possibly because her reactor had gone critical. But whatever the case was, it was clear no one had survived.
"Enemy warships advancing on the Lemnos!"
The hidden Covenant fleet had finally pulled away from the heavy cruiser's orbit, allowing Spaatz to see just how many warships had been hidden there. It wasn't much, only two CPV-class heavy destroyers and five CRS-class light cruisers, but these were fresh, fully equipped and fully armed ships, unlike Spaatz's battleships. Plus, they were being supported by fire from those battlecruisers.
"Acala, order the Fatih to move up, take the Reşadiye's place, and provide support to the Lemnos!" Amarchih was yelling, even as the Lemnos was struck several times by plasma torpedoes, causing fire and explosions to break out across her hull. "Captain Yirenkyi! Get us to Task Force Blue's position so we can provide covering fire for the Lemnos and Fatih's retreat!"
"Sir, Admiral Ozzel is reporting his position is rapidly becoming untenable and is requesting permission to withdraw," Kanin warned in Spaatz's ear.
"What!?" Spaatz was astounded. "NO! Tell that son of a bitch he is to hold his position until the battleships are able to fully withdraw!"
"Ah, sir, I think that might be too late: sensors indicate Task Force Blue is already initiating a withdraw!"
"WHAT!?" Spaatz demanded and rotated his screen around. Sure enough, what remained of Task Force Blue was slowly pulling back, and Covenant ships were rapidly pushing ahead to fill the gap. "Kanin, relieve Admiral Ozzel of his command and have his executive officer take charge! Inform him he is to hold his position no matter the circumstances, and that I'm redeploying all of Task Force Red's escort carriers to assist!"
"Aye, sir!" Kanin yelled and Spaatz immediately grabbed his radio.
"Admiral Amarchih! Your window is closing! Do whatever you have to, just get your fleet out of that hole!"
"Sir! Comms, signal the Fatih and the Lemnos and order both ships to break contact and fall back, now! TAO, give them covering fire!"
"Admiral, sir!" someone yelled and Spaatz immediately looked up, not sure which Admiral he was addressing. "The Lemnos is reporting massive damage across her entire hull! All of her MACs have been destroyed, two of her engines are out, and structural integrity is failing! Acting-captain Commander Hunter is reporting he doesn't believe his ship will be able to hold out much longer!"
Spaatz swore and immediately pulled up a status report of the Lemnos. It was actually worse than the officer was saying. Just a single glance told Spaatz the ship was already dead, with her main fusion reactor disabled and her primary bridge destroyed, and all secondary systems failing. With her ammunition reserves down to sixteen percent, it was clear there were nothing left the ship could do.
"Kanin! Signal the Lemnos: order Commander Hunter to initiate Cole Protocol and then..." Spaatz swallowed. "Abandon ship."
"Sir, yes, sir!"
"Admiral Amarchih! Have the Fatih come about and see if they can pick up the survivors and scramble the search and rescue Pelicans!"
"Aye, sir! Comms, have the Fatih scramble the search and rescue Pelicans; Kilkis, Salamis: covering fire for the Fatih, now!"
"Sir, the Fatih is getting swarmed by fighters and Captain Usman is reporting he's not going to able to make it to the Lemnos!" someone warned.
"Sir, message from General Carter! The Liaoning has been destroyed and Admiral Pike has fallen! General Carter is taking over Task Force Green, however she is also reporting roughly half her assigned fighters have been destroyed and warns she's not sure how much longer she'll be able to hold out!" Kanin warned.
"Admiral, the commander of Task Force Blue is reporting his flagship, the Vanguard, is receiving massive amounts of damage and will not be able to maintain his position for much longer!" someone else yelled at the same time.
Spaatz pinched his nose and exhaled loudly, trying to find his center. It was too much: so much was going on, everyone was yelling where it was to the point Spaatz could no longer tell who was saying what to whom, things were getting so muddled he could no longer keep track of what was going on and who was about to be overrun, he didn't even know who was alive and who was in charge anymore and all the while, on screen, a red wave was threatening to overwhelm the rest of his forces and all Spaatz wanted to do was slap his hands over his ears and start screaming but he couldn't because he was the commander.
And because of that reason alone, it was time to make some hard decisions.
"Kanin, have..." Spaatz hesitated. "Kanin, connect me to Amarchih."
"You already are, sir."
Spaatz glanced at his screen then, in as firm of a voice as he could possibly managed, he said, "Admiral Azouz Amarchih: I am hereby ordering the UNSC Fatih to hold their position and delay the Covenant advance. The Kilkis and Salamis are to use this time to retreat pass Task Force Blue. As soon as Task Force Red is clear, Task Force Blue will then fall back."
He glanced at Amarchih, only to see a rather shocked look on his face.
"Sir, that's -" he began.
"Admiral, was any part of that order unclear!?" Spaatz snarled.
"No, sir!"
"Then see that they get executed now, Admiral!"
"…Aye, sir. Kilkis to Fatih: hold the Covenant back. Everyone else, fall back."
There was a split second moment of silence, as everyone listening realized what those orders actually meant. In the silence, Spaatz could feel the stare of everyone inside Heliopolis Station's CIC on his back, but he refused to waver, no matter how much he would like to. This had to be done; there was no other way.
The spell was suddenly broken when, on screen, both the Kilkis and the Salamis abruptly ignited their portside maneuvering thrusters, doing a full one hundred eight degree turn so they could fall back alongside their remaining escorts. At the same time, the Fatih – no doubt comprehending what Spaatz intended for them to do – activated their main thrusters and began a reckless charge at the incoming Covenant ships attempting to overwhelm what remained of TF Red. The Fatih slammed into a light cruiser that wasn't quite able to clear out of the way in time, instantly destroying the ship, however that's all the Fatih was able to accomplish as - seconds later - she was speared amidship by two energy projectors, cutting the ship in half. Despite this, crew refused to go down without a fight as both halves continued to fire nonstop, but with Covenant fighters and warships closing in from all directions, the fighting was pretty much over.
In the meantime, the rest of TF Red was speeding past TF Blue's position, whose ships immediately enveloped the two remaining battleships in preparation for their own retreat.
"Sir," Kanin softly announced. "General Carter's defense are failing. Enemy ships have broken through in sector three five niner."
Spaatz nodded his head, not trusting himself to speak right now, but fortunately he didn't have to as Amarchih knew exactly what he had to do.
"Captain Yirenkyi," Amarchih roared. "Hit those ships head on! Our job now is to hold open our corridor to allow Task Force Blue the chance to withdraw!"
"Yes, sir!" Spaatz heard Yirenkyi replied. "Alright guys, we're not out of the woods just yet! Helm, check port fifteen degrees and drop down to full speed! TAO, find me a target!"
The remains of TF Red dropped back to attack speed, and Spaatz quickly turned his attention to the Covenant task force that had been attempting to close in from the rear. No new battlecruisers or heavy cruisers had arrived, thank goodness, but the new fleet did include two DDS-class carriers, as well as fresh new corvettes and destroyers.
"Captain, carrier 1-Foxtrot is beginning to deploy fighters!" someone on the Kilkis warned.
"We can't let them finish! All batteries, target that carrier! FIRE!"
The Kilkis fired all three of her MACs in rapid succession, and Spaatz waited with bated breath as the rounds sped down range. The first two rounds smashed into the carrier's shields, causing them to light up, but then the third rammed home and they instantly shattered.
Spaatz let out a sigh of relief. Whatever had managed to supercharge the battlecruisers' shields, it clearly didn't extend to the rest of the Covenant fleet. That was good as it meant there was a chance Task Force Whiskey actually might make it out alive.
"Lock on to those hanger bays with Archer pods and fire when ready!"
"Missiles away, sir!"
The missiles streaked towards the Covenant carrier, only for them to start prematurely exploding as the Covenant fighters deliberately started flying in their path, trying to intercept the missiles before they could hit their mothership. Before anyone could find out who would prevail, the missiles or the fighters, a MAC round suddenly plowed through the mass and slammed into the carrier. All sorts of secondary explosions began going off as the MAC shell smashed into the hanger bay and out the other side, cutting through whatever stood in its path.
Tracing the MAC back to its source, Spaatz spotted the Vanguard, heavily damaged but clearly still functioning, coming up the Kilkis' flank in support. Behind her, Spaatz could see the Salamis and the rest of TF Red engaging the rest of the Covenant warships coming up on the rear, doing their best to keep them at bay. Of the Covenant battlecruisers though, Spaatz spotted no sign.
"Kanin, give me a sitrep on those battlecruisers," Spaatz demanded. "What are they doing?"
"The battlecruisers appear to be hold formation over Actium, sir," Kanin immediately reported. "They have not moved at all since we engaged them, though I cannot even begin to speculate as to why."
"That's fine, let them stay there for now," Spaatz replied, his eyes locked on the fighting. "Keep an eye on them and let me know if they change their mind."
"Yes, sir."
Outside, the remaining ships of Task Force Blue were streaming passed the battleships and heading to support Task Force Green in holding the Covenant back. In the meantime, both the Kilkis and the Vanguard continued to pound target 1-Foxtrot with MAC rounds, which was steadily falling apart under the barrage, leaving behind only about a hundred or so fighters that had managed to escape the ship before its destruction. Spaatz could see them ignite their afterburners and go straight for the Vanguard, most likely in an attempt to finish the ship off.
"Fighters, incoming on a direct trajectory to the Vanguard!"
"Captain, put us on an intercept course between those fighters and the Vanguard!" Amarchih barked. "Admiral Spaatz, any chance we could get some fighter support?"
Spaatz quickly studied his screen, trying to figure which one of his fleet carriers still had fighters left.
"Kanin, reroute the São Paulo to their location and have their fighter wings assist!" he commanded.
"Copy that, sir, rerouting now!"
"Admiral Amarchih, have the Vanguard push past Green and Blue's position and fall back to their assembly location! Kanin, have Heliopolis Station standing by to provide covering fire for them if need be."
"Sir!"
Spaatz glanced around. The Longswords from the São Paulo, supported by anti-aircraft fire from the Kilkis, were rushing towards the Covenant fighters. In the meantime, the Vanguard had broken contact and was very hurriedly pushing through Task Force Blue's position, and back towards the area where TF Whiskey had initially rallied before the battle had even begun.
"Task Force Red, break contact and fall back!" Spaatz ordered. "Kanin, signal Blue and Task Force Greens to cover them!"
The Kilkis started moving away, followed closely by the São Paulo and her fighters. The Covenant weren't interested in letting them get away that easily, however the remaining carriers of TF Blue, along with the cruisers of TF Green, sent a few dozen MAC rounds in the Covenant's direction, preventing them from forming up. They continued to fire at the Covenant as the remainder of TF Red streamed passed.
"Task Force Red, establish a firing position at this location," Spaatz jabbed a finger at his screen, marking a random spot in orbit. "Lay down some covering fire so that TFs Blue and Green can fall back to our original assembly location. TF Blue and Green, fall back, now!"
The ships of TF Blue and Green quickly broke contact. As their fire slackened, the Covenant warships started to try and pursue, but fire from TF Red cut through their ranks once again, preventing them from forming up.
"Task Force Red, fall back now!" Spaatz ordered as the last of the ships from TF Green reported they had returned to the assembly area.
Spaatz's remaining battleships quickly turned tail and started to fall back. By now, the Covenant had decided to give up the pursuit, and had fallen back to defend their cruisers, allowing whatever was left of TF Whiskey to survive to fight another day.
But even as the last ship reported in, Spaatz's mind wasn't occupied with the battle that had just ended, but that of the battles yet to come. His attack had failed.
Badly.
What were the consequences going to be for the rest of the campaign?
General Notes:
Ships mentioned in this chapter:
UNSC Löwenhardt: this ship is named after Oberleutnant(Senior Lieutenant) Erich Löwenhardt, a fighter pilot for the Deutsche Luftstreikträfte (Imperial German Army Air Service) during World War I. As a military cadet enrolled at the military school in Lichtfelder when WWI broke out in 1914, Löwenhardt initially saw service with the German Army's Infantry Regiment Nr. 141 as an enlisted infantryman, seeing service on the Eastern Front fighting against Russia where he most notably fought in the Battle of Tannenberg. As a reward for his bravery during that battle, he was commissioned as an officer. In early 1915, then-LeutnantLöwenhardt was awarded the Iron Cross, 1st Class for saving the lives of five wounded men.
In 1916, Löwenhardt volunteered for service with the Imperial German Army Air Service, becoming a full-fledged fighter pilot in March of 1917. Between March of 1917 and August of 1918, Löwenhardt would score a total of fifty-four victories, making him German's third highest flying ace of WWI. Unfortunately, on August 10, 1918, moments after scoring his fifty-fourth victory, Löwenhardt suffered a mid-air collision with another German aircraft. Both pilots bailed out, however Löwenhardt's parachute failed to open, and he fell to his death. He was only 21 years old.
UNSC Iqbal: unlike the other ships mentioned in this story, the name of this ship is not derived from any historical or real life figure, but an original creation. In an earlier draft of this story, Major General Suzan Iqbal would have been an ancestor of General Tevita Iqbal (who, if you recall, is the commanding officer of Actium's Orbital Defense Command.)
Suzan Iqbal's (fictional) historical biography was that she was an Air Force fighter pilot, and both a Legion of Honor recipient, as well as the UNSC's highest scoring fighter ace in the Martian Theatre during the Interplanetary War.
UNSC Vanguard: this ship is named after the HMS Vanguard who, despite her name, was the last battleship in the world to be built (she was completed in 1946; French battleship Jean Bart technically was completed later, in 1955, but the Jean Bart was actually laid down earlier, in 1936 versus the Vanguard, which was laid down in 1941.)
In my headcanon, I figured the UNSC Vanguard would have been the last Valiant-class super-heavy cruiser to be built and plus, I liked the irony of the name. (A note on the ship class: "super-heavy cruiser" is not something I made up - that's straight from canon. I honestly think it's a stupid name, but it's not something I particularly care to change.)
UNSC Liaoning: this ship is named after the Liaoning, the first aircraft carrier to be commissioned by the People's Liberation Army Navy Surface Force of the People's Republic of China. The ship in turn was named after the Liaoning Province in Northeast China, located on the Yellow Sea.
UNSC Fatih and Reşadiye: these ships are named after former Ottoman Empire battleships. The Reşadiye was ordered from British shipyards in 1911, however it was never delivered as the ship was seized by the Royal Navy upon the outbreak of WWI for their own use and renamed the HMS Erin. Meanwhile, the Fatih (full name Fatih Sultan Mehmed,) which had only been ordered in 1914, was also seized, however so little work had been done, the ship was ultimately scrapped.
According to some sources, the seizure of these ships (which had already been bought and paid for by the Ottomans,) was part of the reason why the Ottoman Empire ultimately decided to join WWI on the side of the Central Powers, as opposed to the Entente Powers.
(I decided to use these names because it was partly because of these ships that the Greek Navy decided to acquire their own battleships, the Kilkis, Salamais, Lemnos, and a four ship, the Vasilefs Konstantinos.)
Other Notes:
UNSC Air Force Group: I mentioned somewhere at some point in one of my stories, I thought it would be cool if the UNSC Air Force had more of a British Royal Air Force heritage, as opposed to a United States Air Force one. Part of that involves adopted the RAF unit structure so, units go (from smallest to biggest): Flight, Squadron, Wing, Group, Tactical Air Force, and Command. It's a little hard to describe what each unit does, but essentially, an air force group is roughly equivalent in size and responsibility to an army division.
Samantha Carter, Ozzel, and Christopher Pike: these are all references to leaders from other scifi series. Samantha Carter is one of the main characters from the TV series, Stargate SG-1, Ozzel is from Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (he's the Imperial officer Darth Vadar executes for jumping too close to Hoth,) and Christopher Pike is from Star Trek, being captain of the USS Enterprise just before Captain Kirk.
ORS-class Heavy Cruiser: according to Halopedia, ORS-class cruisers "boast a variety of stealth-related advancements." To be honest, I interpret this more like the stealth coating one would find on a B-2 bomber or F-22 Raptor, but it worked out better for this chapter if it meant more like the cruiser was capable of generating a stealth field around it (similar to the way the Protoss Motherships work in Starcraft 2.)
"Classified Program": General Carter's classified program isn't just supposed to be a thinly veiled reference to the Stargate Program, it's also me partially trying to change canon.
One of things I don't like about the Halo Universe is just this idea that somehow ONI is the only organization responsible for every single advancement in human technology (i.e., the Spartan Program,) reverse engineering Covenant tech, as well as all covert ops. In my mind, said responsibilities would be more equally divided among the different military branches. In this case, while the Navy would have a focus on development and reverse engineering of Covenant technology, the Air Force would be responsible for research into "alternative methods." What some of those alternative methods may include can be seen in one of my other Halo stories, Swamps.
Change Log:
- As mentioned at the start of the chapter, for the most part, this chapter remains changed. The only major change is there has been a slight reduction in the amount of UNSC ships involved (no Marathon-class heavy cruisers are involved anymore, only two Epoch-class carriers as opposed to three, only two Air Force carriers instead of three, and the amount of Vindication-class of light battleships has been reduced from seven to five.)