Earth Orbit
It was an honestly beautiful sight to Petra. Watching through the thick transparent Aluminum windows of the bridge at the gathering fleet that she would be commanding.
All of her frigates of both classes had assembled in orbit above Earth. They were currently facing the sun so that any spies would only see the bright rays of the sun.
The windows of the bridge had automatically tinted and changed so that she could look out toward the star of Sol. She gazed back to the holotable, where images of the ships that made up the fleet were later out in realtime. The large Indianapolis class cruiser was surrounded by the near 2 dozen smaller ships.
Arthur gave her a notification that a Slipspace rupture opened up 50,000 kilometers to their right. The lumbering form of the other cruiser that made up their fleet exited the rift. The UNSC Song of Sirens would be an invaluable addition to their mission.
The UNSC Cyclops, the last destroyer they were waiting on, showed up just a minute later. It was only a few more minutes before the Song of Sirens had gotten into position 10,000 km off of their left side. While the frigates, destroyers and corvettes all were arranged around the 2 flagships.
Arthur appeared on the holotable in his familiar white armor. His hands were clasped behind his back like a businessman. "Captain, all ships are in position. They are ready for Slipspace jump on your command."
Petra nodded at the ship's AI, she then gazed into a window that opened above said table. A message to all the ships in her fleet.
"Ladies and Gentlemen. You've been gathered here for one very important reason. In the outer solar system is a fleet of Insurrectionist warships that is responsible for several terrorist attacks on Earth, Mars and Luna. As well as raids on several freighters delivering valuable materials. They have killed thousands of innocent individuals in their effort of so-called 'peace'. They hated the old UNSC for trying to bring them under heel forcefully. But today they give us no choice but to do the same thing. We will arrest their leaders, destroy their ships and bring back all the people they kidnapped!" Petra said with pure heartfelt emotion.
She had read the unfiltered files that the Arcturus had on the Insurrectionists. She knew about the bombings, both conventional and nuclear. She knew about all the people they'd killed with their want to separate from the UEG. And she knew that even in the face of the Covenant that some still fought the UNSC.
They were dangerous people that she wouldn't bat an eye over killing. After all, they would do the same to her and the people under her command.
"So, who's ready to kick some terrorists ass!" She yelled. The chorus of hoorahs and hell yeahs filled the comm chatter. It brought a smile to her face to see that everyone was on the same page.
Now all she had to do was make sure that this went off without a hitch. Which was easier said than done. Because, while all of their ships were better than the Insurrectionists. Both in power and durability. The enemy still outnumbered them over 3 to one. Most of which were corvettes with only a mini MAC. But they still could swarm her ships if she wasn't careful.
"Alright, input coordinates for a half million kilometers below Europa. We'll catch them from underneath and gut them." Petra said fleet wide. The comm channel then closed and she turned back to her bridge crew.
"Alright people, final checks. Sound off please." She said calmly.
"All fighters fueled and loaded. Their pilots are ready to go as well." Came the voice of her flight chief.
"Reactors are at 50% and ready to be raised to 100 at a moment's notice."
"All guns are loaded and charged. All missile pods are hot."
"Shield generators are online and ready to be raised when we exit Slipspace."
"Marines, ODSTs and Spartans are all ready."
Petra nodded at the acknowledgement. It seems everything was running smoothly on the ship today. That was good, they Needed everything going for them now. Because as soon as they exited the eleven dimensional space they were about to enter. All hell would break loose.
And if all went according to plan, then this would be the downfall of the Insurrection. And with that, a near extinction for the terrorist organization. After all, these were uncertain times. And the UNSC didn't need any more problems on it's place.
"Alright, all ships activate Slipspace drives. We're going in." Petra said once again across the fleet wide channel. Signaling all ships to head to the battle zone.
She heard the steady hum of the ship's reactor routed it's several million degree plasma out of the engines via electromagnetism. Pushing the cruiser forward.
The familiar black void opened up several kilometers in front of them. With a rotating aura of whisky blue and white light. Lighting up the void around it.
It always felt like she was entering the same strange void whenever they passed into Slipspace. Like Perseus journeying to Tartarus. Ready to slay the monsters in his path. But her monsters were far too human in nature for her liking.
All the space around the cruiser turned black as they were completely in the strange eleventh dimensional plane. Only the slight shimmering of the field that kept physics normal inside being visible. Without it, the whole ship would be subject to a completely different set of physics.
It didn't take a genius to know how unbelievably bad it would be if that field failed. But she trusted the safety systems of the Here be Dragons Slipspace drive.
She simply waited on the bridge for several minutes. It was an in system jump. So it would only be a few minutes before they got to their destination if the currents of Slipstream were nice.
It wasn't 60 seconds later when Arthur gave her an alert that they were about to exit. She braced herself for the deceleration as the AI prepared for the ship's deceleration.
The ship abruptly slowed and the view screen showed the void of space once again as the transitioned into normal space.
Petra gazed to the sides as well as her holotable to see the various ships in the fleet all transition back into normal space as well. They all briefly lit up green, giving her the sign they were ready to go.
"Alright Arthur, give me a readout. I want to know where those chips are down to the foot." As soon as she finished the sentence, the whole viewscreen of the bridge flashed blue briefly. Before going back to it's normal clear. Except this time there were bright red pin pricks on it. Showing the exact location.
The data transferred itself to the holotable and the rest of the fleet.
The Insurrectionist ships were 50,000 kilometers in front of them. With the bottom of the shield facing her forward bow.
She smirked. Good, they had appeared directly below them. Just as she wanted.
"Arthur, have us and the Song of Sirens stealth launch 2 Havok nukes each. Give them a little surprise in a few minutes. Then have all ships charge their MAC guns and heavy laser cannons. As soon as their charged, unleash a fleet wide Archer missile strike." She ordered the bridge crew and AI.
She witnessed both her cruiser and the Siren launched two Havok class nukes from their silos. The compressed air propelling them out of the tube and then being pushed by the electromagnetic field of the launch tube.
"Captain, MAC guns are charged fleet wide. Lasers are also ready to fire on the enemy positions." Arthur said in his iconic Knight avatar.
"Alright then, have the fleet target the frigates first. Then fire MAC 2 at the bow of that Phoenix. I want it to look like we were trying to hit it center mass." The signal was sent. And a second later the space all around her was filled with streaks of white hot tungsten.
Not a moment layer the ruby red beams of photons shot out of the frigates and destroyers. Cutting through the armor of the enemy frigates with ease. Shearing off huge sections of armor and venting large sections of ship.
One even hit center mass and the Insurrectionist ship's reactors went critical. Making it explode in a violent fusion explosion.
The MAC rounds hit 2 seconds later. With this distance and some of the enemy frigates being partially crippled, they had no chance of dodging. The tungsten rounds impacted violently against the Titanium A armor. It punched through with only a minor loss in power. Then punched through the show and out the other side. Leaving damn near 40 foot wide holes through whatever trajectory they were on.
8 more of the enemy frigates exploded violently. With another 2 sustaining crippling damage. Sending scraps of titanium and dust flying through the cosmos.
Petra then felt the rumble above her as one of the ships MAC guns fired. Sending another tungsten slug at the flagship of the Enemy fleet.
The round hit even faster than the frigates. It then impacted the bottom bow of the Phoenix class colony ship. It's added armor fairing better than the Charon class frigates. But the round still made a 50 foot wide hole all the way through then didn't of the ship. Ripping through its MAC guns and shearing off even more chunks of armor.
"Damn good shot Arthur. Couldn't have aimed that better myself." She congratulated the AI. He nodded his head at the compliment.
While they did pretty much cripple the Phoenix class and destroy or cripple almost all the Charon class frigates. There were still over a hundred corvettes that needed to be taken care of.
All of which were now starting to aim at her fleet. It seemed they knew they were there now. But that didn't mean they were gonna survive the next salvo.
"Have all ships from frigate weight and up get missile solutions on those corvettes. Then have our Blitz's move ahead. Have them target vital points with their plasma cannons."
The plasma cannons on the corvettes could easily melt through Titanium A. The Covenant told them that plasma cut through Titanium A like butter.
The corvettes flared their engines and moved ahead of the fleet. Moving far faster than the larger ships in her fleet.
"Archer missile pods are hot Captain." Her weapons officer told her.
"Fire." Petra ordered simply.
All across the ship, various missile pods opened up. Their payloads were then accelerated like a low power gauss cannon into the void. The missiles then split apart into dozens of missiles.
They ignited their engines and rocketed through the void. Petra watched with a smile as thousands of missiles moved through space. Only the lights of their engines showing where they were.
God, this would be an amazing painting right now. With two opposing fleets firing at each other. Framed by the massive moon of Europa.
The Insurrectionist corvettes then opened up with their own missiles. Lighting up the space around them with thousands more Archers. But they were both slower and less armored than the Archer IIs that the UNSC ships had.
MAC rounds had also started to fly from the fronts of the Gladius class corvettes. The white hot tungsten rounds flew through space and impacted against the shields of the UNSC ships.
"Damn, seems their intent on taking out our cruisers. Arthur, fire the MAC guns. Load the flechette rounds!" Petra ordered. For ships this small and in large clusters. The Flechette MAC was made up of hundreds of tungsten darts that split apart like a giant shotgun shell. With each dart being slightly more powerful than a round from one of the point defense guns.
But those Gladius are about to find out that hundreds of tungsten projectiles hitting them would still hurt like a bitch.
"Flechette rounds loaded captain. Both MACs are charged and ready to fire." Arthur informed her.
"No need to wait for me, fire at will." Petra said to the AI.
The familiar rumble above her happened once more as the two MAC rounds left their barrels and flew over 10 kilometers before splitting apart into their individual pieces.
The darts impacted a half dozen different Gladius corvettes. Carving dozens of holes in their bulls. 4 of those went up in nuclear flames as their reactors went critical. The other two floated lifelessly and critically damaged. Mixing in with the growing debris field.
But by that point most of the Gladius had aimed themselves at the UNSC ships. Even a damaged Charon class frigate had pointed itself at them and fired a 600 ton shell at a Cyclops class Destroyer. It's shields flared a shining gold, barely holding. It was also slowed significantly from the kinetic transfer.
The UNSC Cyclops then opened up with it's heavy laser cannon. Cutting the Charon to pieces and causing it to explode. Filling the space surrounding the ship with Titanium scrap.
The swarm of Archers fired at them were mostly stopped by the laser turrets and PDF guns. The rest splashed onto the shields of the UNSC ships. Draining them, but leaving the ships intact.
But the same couldn't be said about the Insurrectionist ships. Their PDF guns fired nonstop at the incoming missiles.
If what Petra read was accurate. Then each of those corvettes had 4 30mm dual coil guns. As well as 8 20 mm miniguns. They all fired at the incoming Archer II's. But the sheer number of the missiles as well as their up armored noses made it so only a third of the missiles were shot down.
Like an angry path of piranha's on an injured predator. The missiles descended upon the corvettes and each boss out chunks of armor. With more missiles tearing apart the insides of the ships. Causing 23 more of the corvettes to go nuclear. With several more being various states of damage.
The rest of the corvettes fired their MAC guns once again. Sending 100 ton slugs straight at their UNSC opponents. With more than a few being aimed at the rapidly approaching Blitz corvettes. With one of the MAC rounds hitting a Blitz head on. Dropping the shields and tearing through the ship. The small ship exploded into a nuclear fireball.
That was the first UNSC kill in this battle, and hopefully would be the only one Petra hoped.
"Captain, the Phoenix class is launching fighters. I detect 20 Longswords and 30 broadswords. Their aimed at our corvettes." Arthur informed.
"Alright, unleash our Sabres and have them take out those fighters. Then have our Shortsword bombers aim at those corvettes. Oh, and tell Fireteam shard that they're go for launch. Our fighters launching should draw the attention away from their launch." Petra ordered the bridge crew.
Arthur nodded before disappearing once more.
Church finished the final checks on both his gear and his team. The weight on his back telling him that his thruster pack was firmly attached to his back.
He did the same for the M99 Stanchion gauss rifle in his hands. Perfect for doing max amounts of damage in vacuum. Considering it had an effectively infinite range. He made sure it was good to go before attaching it to the sides of his thruster pack. Joining the BR55 heavy barreled rifle on the other side. Perfect for ship boarding.
He gazed to his right to see Tucker and Grey. Tucker also had a BR55 as well as an M90 shotgun. While Grey was equipped with dual M7 SMGs.
He then turned his head to the left to see Izuku and Ruby. Izuku had an MA5B and M90 shotgun. Ruby had opted for the same loading but with an M7 secondary instead of a shotgun.
"Alright, final check dipshits! Everyone got their head in order." Church yelled to his Fireteam. He wasn't losing anyone on this team if he could help it. And it definitely wasn't gonna happen from a simple equipment failure.
At least they had the micro thrusters on the back of their armor if their packs either died or got damaged.
He got a simple nod from Izuku, a thumbs up from Ruby, a middle finger from Tucker and a maniacal giggle from Grey. God damn, he was glad she was on their team. She was really creepy when she wanted to be.
"Alright then, Arthur if you'd do the honors." Church said to the ship's AI. They were positioned in one of the airlocks on the side of the ship. Barely 10 feet wide, it made for a tight squeeze with five Spartans with space combat gear loaded.
A 5 second countdown started on the center of Shards visors. It quickly counted down and once it hit zero the airlock door slammed open.
The Spartans were sucked out from the escaping air pressure. They quickly got accelerated toward the Insurrectionist fleet.
Their armor had been painted with the same radar absorbing black paint on prowlers. Just like in operation Silent Storm. Their small silhouettes camouflaged with the space surrounding them.
A burst of flame ejected out from their thruster packs, accelerating them further. Their flight path now aligned to hit the enemy flagship.
"ETA is 90 seconds. Once we reach 1,000 kilometers out, activate your brakes. You have a 3 second window to do so if you don't want to become a living bullet." Arthur informed them over a tight beam transmission.
"Well, that was fucking reassuring." Tucker complained over the squad comm. The sheer amount of sarcasm in his voice could fill a kiddie pool.
"Well, then we better make this count. Have to become a red smear on the side of a warship." Ruby said in a confident tone.
"We've only got another 40 seconds until we need to brake." Izuku informed.
"Tucker, Grey. I want you two to head toward the front of the ship and make your way toward the reactor. I don't want this tub to go nuclear with us still on it. Meanwhile Me, Ruby and Izuku will go toward the bridge and take the captain hostage. Then we'll take all of the ship's data and detonate the reactor after we get off. Everyone got through your Ceramic skulls?" Church asked.
His only response was four green status lights on his visor showing him that they acknowledged him. Okay, here goes nothing.
20 seconds
10 seconds
5 seconds
"Activate brake rockets!" Church yelled.
All five members of Shard activated their thrusters. The sheer force of their deceleration felt like they got hit by a truck. But it was survivable.
The Phoenix class ship was starting to look very large in their vision. Tucker and Grey broke off toward the bow, while him, Izuku and Ruby went for the midsection of the ship.
Church activated his rockets once more and angled himself along the side of the Phoenix. It now filled the whole of his vision. He struck out his hands and activated the electromagnets built into his gloves. That, along with his thruster pack made him stick to the side of the colony ship like he was duct tape.
He looked behind him to see both the red and green Spartans do the same. He got to his feet, activating the magnets on those as well and met up with his squad.
Church grabbed his BR55 off his thruster pack. "Izuku, you got the explosives?" He questioned.
Izuku held up the small pack of C12 from his back.
"Alright, Ruby. Run and find the nearest airlock. We're going in."
Ruby nodded and disappeared in a cloud of rose petals. Which floated gently out into the void. It would've been picture worthy if they didn't have a job to do.
"Hey, I found an airlock over here that we can blast through!" Ruby yelled over the comms. Their visors lighting up with the waypoint that she'd marked.
Izuku immediately started the work on the explosives. Taking off small bits of the pack and spreading it all around the airtight doors. He then wired it all up and they stood back.
"I always love this part of the job." Izuku said with a bit of giddyness as he pressed a button on his armor mounted TacPad. There was a full thump that they all felt through the hull.
They turned back and saw an 8 foot wide hole blown through the 12 inch metal of the airlock.
Ruby whistled at the impressive display. What could she say, she liked big explosions as well, and she'd never deny it.
Ruby jumped down the hole they made in the airlock. The ship's gravity pulled her feet to the deck plates as she did so. Her rifle was at the ready in case anybody tried to shoot her. But there were no hostiles. At least her motion tracker agreed with her.
Church and Izuku followed in behind her. Izuku peeked around the corner with his shotgun raised. The 8 gauge shells being perfectly suited for the close quarters starship corridors.
"continue down the hallway." Church ordered.
The weight of his rifle felt comfortable in his hands. It was interesting to actually storm a ship instead of doing it in the simulations. The soft step of their boots on the deck plates was the only sound around them. The barely noticeable hum of the reactor being the only other thing.
"Anyone else get the feeling that something isn't exactly right here?" Ruby asked with a hint of concern. He could see where she was coming from. His ability may be to slow down time. But he still had a sapphire, which meant he did but visions sometimes.
And that familiar feeling in his gemstone that something wasn't right was going off.
"Stay cautious, be alert for anything out of the ordinary. If so, we're getting the hell out off this tub."
"You mean beside the fact that we've gone through two decks and have yet to find anyone. That kind of strange?" Izuku joked, but Church could still hear the nervousness in his voice. Good, nervousness made one alert.
They continued up the decks of the ship. Using the various walkways, elevators and frame built into it for faster passage.
Izuku put explosives once more on the bridge door. With them fucking behind a bulkhead as it blew.
Ruby and Izuku rushed into the bridge with their abilities. While church held back with his battle rifle and time slowed. But even through the smoke he could see no one in the bridge.
"Wait, there's no one here either? What the heck is going on here!" Ruby yelled as she powered her rifle. She really wanted to shoot some bad guys.
"This is starting to look more and more like a trap Sir." Izuku told Church as he let his shotgun fall to his side.
"certainly fucking looks like it." Church slid his rifle into his right hand. He reached into a pouch on his armor and pulled out the data crystal he brought with him. Inserting into the holotable on the bridge.
It beeped and turned blue after a few seconds. Signaling that the Dumb AI had downloaded all the info.
Just as he reached out to grab the data chip his head absolutely erupted in pain. It sent him to his knees and made him grab the side of his helmet in an attempt to get rid of the pain. The shields dimming so he could grab it.
Ruby and Izuku immediately noticed and went over to their leader. They kneeled down next to him to see if Church was okay.
A series of images flashed inside his head. Going by like an old movie reel. Going faster and faster as the images became clearer.
The phoenix they were on exploding into a massive set of debris.
An Insurrectionist fleet showing up in their blindspot.
An ancient gem weapon, buried in the ice.
Church looked up at them. "We need to get off this ship. Now!" He yelled.
The two Spartans didn't need to ask what he was thinking. They just burst into action. All three Spartans opened fire on the window. Shattering it after a few seconds.
They all jumped out and fired their jets. Rocketing them away.
"Tucker, Grey. Get off the ship!" Izuku yelled over comms.
"Yeah, we noticed! The ships been turned into a fucking bomb!" He yelled, the sounds of metal thumping against metal being heard in the background.
"What Tucker means to say. Is that they put two goddamn Shiva nukes around the primary reactor! They were gonna blow it with us onboard! Oh when I get my hands on them, I'm gonna cut their fucking hands off and slap them with their own hands!" Grey yelled in a very curious voice.
"Ok, please calm down. Last thing we need is an angry medic." Ruby told a very angry Grey.
"Angry! Oh, you haven't even seen me angry yet sweetie. This is angry!" She yelled. The three Spartans then turned to see a small explosion on the side of the ship. Only to see Grey followed by Tucker jump out and hit their jets.
"Did she just barge through a foot thick of Titanium A?" Izuku said with bewilderment.
Church just stared at the frankly terrifying sight. With a laughing Grey being echoed through the comms as she rocketed away.
"Yah know, I'm just gonna roll with it. Best not to question an angry Spartan." Church said with a tired time.
"Yeah yeah, is somebody gonna inform Petra or are we just gonna wait for the ship to-wooah!" Tucker yelled as the ship went up in nuclear flames behind them. Incinerating vast portions of the 2.5 kilometer ship. While sending the rest of the Titanium scrap in all directions.
Fireteam Shard had to dodge several hypersonic chunks of starship alloy that went in their direction. With several close calls being made. But their Gem powers helped in speeding out of the way of the chunks.
Church activated his comm and patched himself into the Here Be Dragons communications. Giving himself a direct line to the bridge.
"Church, what's wrong? I'm about to end this fight. so this had better be good." Petra said with a mild hint of annoyance.
"It's a trap! The ship was rigged to blow with us still inside. They somehow knew we were coming. And there's another fleet incoming!" He yelled.
Petra didn't even have time to respond before he heard a sentence he really didn't want to in the background.
"Ma'am! We have 21 contacts at 100,000 kilometers and closing! One of them is an Orion class Carrier!" Yelled a crewmember in the background.
Oh, this day just got a whole hell of a lot worse.