Exerpt from the diary of Richard J. Saunders, Fleet Admiral, Overall Commander, UNSC Battlegroup Ohio.
"That fateful day... I shall never forget."
—Richard J. Saunders.
It is today that I write to you, dear reader, with a heavy heart. Only fifteen, and yet taking what was supposed to be for a soldier.
My family is now dead.
Not just my intermediate family, but my entire extended family.
So let's see... Where do I begin?
My father was a Marine who served in the Human-Covenant war. My mother was only a teenager then, so she didn't serve. But her father did.
I was born in the year 2539. My homeworld was at Midguard. A year of infamy. By then the Human-Covenant war was in full swing. We were relocated to Reach, and from there, Earth, where I had the opportunity to witness my father in action, serving with gallantry during the Siege of Earth, where he was hit through the shoulder, and discharged with a battlefield disability.
After the war, my family moved back to Midguard, where I received an education. It was also where I met my soon-to-be comrades on the battlefield.
I was a dedicated person to Dirk Pitt novels and crime/mystery novels, having the entire collection of Dirk and Sherlock.
I was also a detective, capable of deducing a person's history from even his most subtle movements, and can, and have, solved several crimes that would be a puzzle to even the best police detectives.
Back to the topic.
On that fateful day in August, I was out with my family, on a tour of the war museum. I was always an excellent student on all fronts, and of that, history was my best.
Not ancient, but recently.
I can list all battles fought during the Human-Covenant war, and the Insurrection.
But there were rumors.
Rumors of war.
And they were confirmed.
On the twentieth of January, the president came online to state a statement, that changed our lives forever:
"My fellow citizens;
We have stood together to hold past our foes, and despite all the destruction, crashed them, to hell. Today, we find ourselves facing a new threat:
We have been attacked.
We at first confronted the Republic, due to the fact that this foe used ships so similar to Covenant designs, that we confused them.
However, they've just confirmed that they were attacked by the same foe.
Therefore, they have declared war on this Fleet of Fog, and we are now inclined to do the same.
Thereafter, I formally declare a state of open hostilities against the Fleet of Fog. All Fog ships are, from now on, to be eliminated upon sight. From now on, acknowledging that a state of war now exists, I therefore request Uncle Sam to get as many volunteers as possible, for humanity's sake.
Goodbye, and good night."
I never thought that I'd serve, I was only fifteen, but as a jeet kune do master I was already preparing for the day I enlist.
On that day, I went about, looking at all the exhibits, when I spotted James Sandecker, my old friend since elementary.
"Heya, Richard! Long time no see!"
"Gotcha, Jack."
"Um... where's your sister?"
"I saw her head into the ODP exhibit."
"Oh."
The place suddenly began to crack, as Fog troops began to push in. A few former Marines who happened to have rifles immediately drew them and shot back, but they were shot down straight. The remaining dashed off in a crowd of panicked people, and throughout all the chaos I saw the ODP exhibit get shot with a grenade and came crashing down.
As I moved towards the weapons exhibit, I saw a situation that would mentally scar even combat-hardened veterans.
Civvies shot down, unarmed.
No other way can be said of such a scene. I grabbed a Battle Rifle from the rack, along with a dozen mags, and started firing. As I began to provide cover fire for the panicked civvies, a group of high-schoolers also grabbed guns from the rack, and moved into firing positions, with I as their commander. But the enemy kept moving forward, until—
Boom!
"What the heck just happened?"
Someone demanded.
I turned around, and managed to see that about a dozen middle-schoolers had somehow got their hands on a group of six cannons, and was reloading, firing, while another group of kids my age were wielding shotguns, bayonets fixed.
A girl, about seventeen, wearing a navy uniform, was wielding a rifle, and noticed me. She moved towards me and soon we were fighting together, as if we were comrades.
Someone took a dead Fog's energy shield and formed a barrier, while the retreating civvies had left to the evacuation ships. I, grabbing another dozen mags, shouted the order to retreat, and after they have gone, left onto the ships.
During the way, we were separated, and before that happened she gave me a UNSC armband, olive green, and the words:
"See you soon."
On the evac ship, a Marine headed over towards me.
"You did well. Had it been not for you we won't have escaped. Many a person here probably owes their lives to you."
I could think of nothing save for the scene.
"They owe it, but not to me. True, I did it first, but they also followed. Had it not been for those fifth graders who got their hands on cannons we would have been long dead."
"Where are your family?"
"Dead."
"How do you know?"
"Because my instincts tell me. I will se them no more."
I never saw my sister again. I believe she died when the ODP exhibit came crashing down.
That fateful day, I shall never forget.
To this day, I still remember the girl who gave me that olive armband.
I do not know her name.
Richard joined the navy after the battle, and owing to his father's service records, was appointed commander of a frigate, which he utilized during the Battle of Sans Pareli, alongside a Keyes Loop-style maneuver, which had three enemy cruisers and an assault carrier, destroyed, by the following excerpt from Richard's diary;
The three enemy cruisers adopted a triangle formation, bearing down on my frigate, which began to close in at the lead one. All three cruisers let loose a volley of corrosive torpedoes, whilst I had my frigate dodge all, and headed towards the lead cruiser. The torpedoes tracked their target, as I expected, and with my frigate dodging the cruiser at the last minute, the torpedoes, unable to respond to such erratic maneuvers, slammed head-on into the same ship that launched them, cooking its shields and baking its hull. A spread of Archer missiles sent it to its doom. I therefore focused my attention to the second cruiser. I had no time for the MAC to charge, so I had a slipspace missile into it's rear, leaving its severed bow. A spread of missiles with proximity triggers sent the bow section flying into the remaining cruiser, ripping it in half. The carrier fired a fresh spread of torpedoes, but I had my shotgun missiles intercept them all, and I responded with a volley of Shiva missiles, which although failed to get the hull, the resulting EMP resulted in a deep-fat-fried and pretty much useless shield generator. A single MAC round through its glassing beam, then, was fairly easy.
Saunders was awarded the Medal of Honor for "The singlehanded destruction of three enemy cruisers and an assault carrier, as commander of a frigate, achieving an impossibility due to the enemy's sheer firepower."
He was subsequently promoted to Commodore, as commander of the 8th Fleet, where, in the Battle of Alpha Quadrant, so skillfully disposed his fleet that he destroyed completely the enemy, at the loss of six frigates and a cruiser.
He was subsequently promoted to Fleet Admiral, and received overall command of the Battlegroup Ohio, which includes not only the 8th fleet and its corresponding fighter/ground units but a ship-girl division as well.
Commodore James Sandecker Sr, was chosen as his replacement.
Commodore James Sandecker Jr, was chosen as the commander of the ship-girl division.
Fleet Admiral Richard J. Saunders, is currently the overall commander of Battlegroup Ohio.
He currently resides in Midguard, where his large home is part of the naval base which the ship-girls reside.
A/N:
This is conceived as a sort of a filler chapter 'cause I ran out of ideas. So yeah. The next few chapters will focus on the battles fought by the UNSC. Namely, Sans Pareli and Alpha Quadrant.
Thanks for reading!