1800 hours, September 16th, 2542 (UNSC military calendar)
Coalition High Command War Room, Ring B, New Ghent Station Alpha

The War Room was a storm of activity as the men and women of the Coalition went about their duties. The name was a bit of an understatement: this was a multi-tiered command center the size of a small stadium, boasting more computing power than some colonies, with reinforced guard detail posted at all entrances. Officers from different militaries clustered around workstations, data displays and holotanks that detailed the myriad aspects of the joint war effort, connected by adjutants carrying missives, data drives and "fortified" coffee for the overworked generals. At the heart of it all was a massive holographic table, currently displaying a high-level overview of the strategic situation in the theater.

The station that housed the Coalition High Command was just as custom-made as the facility itself. Laid down as an ordinary Moncton-class orbital defense platform not too long ago, New Ghent Station Alpha had nearly doubled in mass since, though its main gun remained unchanged. It was now fitted with numerous additional modules: habitat blocks, cargo bays and docking ports, secondary weapons, reactors and newly-introduced eezonic systems and structural braces to hold the whole assembly together. All those additions were putting the UNSC's knowledge in modular station design and material sciences to the test. So far, it had passed with flying colors thanks to the station's over engineered structural framework and mass effect fields - the test firings of the main cannon went without a hitch.

This was but a tiny part of the monumental effort on the Coalition's part to turn New Ghent into a veritable fortress. Orbital weapons platforms, of UNSC and Citadel make alike, were being emplaced in New Ghent's orbit, at its first and second Lagrange points and near the Coalition's key resourcing sites in the system. Listening posts were monitoring the slipspace for the signs of a Covenant incursion, and frigate squadrons were stationed throughout the system to act as a first response force. Comm buoys tied them all into a unified defense network that could, in theory, quickly move to contain any intruders or call for help if they were beyond its ability to handle.

Admiral Preston Cole's Battlegroup Belgium was currently stationed in high orbit above New Ghent, reassigned to protect the all-important supply lines connecting the UNSC and the Citadel, patrolling the route between New Ghent and the Orion Relay every week. While this wasn't the usual high-risk mission, it was still crucial to the war effort, and it certainly served as a pleasant change of pace. Meanwhile, Cole himself acted as the UNSC representative in the Coalition High Command.

Coalition High Command was the name for the command council that coordinated the actions of the UNSC and the Citadel Expeditionary Force - consisting of the combined forces of the Citadel races in the Orion Arm. The interests of the UNSC were represented in this quadrumvirate by Vice Admiral Preston Cole, while the Citadel representatives also served as the leaders of the CEF.

Currently, Cole's counterparts were gathered around the central holotable, Fleet Admiral Karandis of the Turian Hierarchy standing out among them in his burgundy-red armor. It was he who led the Citadel forces in the opening battles of their campaign against the Covenant, and now he served as the commander-in-chief of the CEF's naval component; in Cole's assessment, the Fleet Admiral had grown into the role quite well.

In his new position Karandis was championing a doctrine of "aggressive defense" which had his forces launch probing attacks with a large portion relegated to mobile defense and operational reserves. The probing forces would avoid contact with Covenant strongpoints and strike at undefended systems and soft targets. Once those were taken care of, the reserve units would move in to eliminate the stragglers.

The tactic had worked well enough so far; over the last few weeks the turians had destroyed over a hundred of Covenant warships with moderate casualties, having suffered few tactical defeats. No one was sure that this would last for long, though; the recent events, especially the disaster over Fair Meadows and Alluvion, were proof enough of that. The reports they'd received from Alluvion were dire, but fortunately only a minor setback in the fight to reclaim the outer colonies. Reinforcements would quickly reinforce Alluvion, and the Covenant raiding force driven off.

"I want the 17th and the 82nd fleets to disperse and bypass the Covenant forces seen operating in the vicinity of the Chi Rho system. We'll leave an opening to entice them to retreat.." Karandis highlighted the systems in question; he was planning a large raid against the Covenant supply lines. "If the Covenant takes the bait, they will most likely attempt to regroup at the B-352-Y pocket. Then we can box them in. We have eight hundred turian ships against fifteen of theirs; casualties should be acceptable if we retain the element of surprise. If they don't retreat, they are asking for defeat in detail."

"What do we know of Chi Rho?" Matriarch Aethyta of the Asari Republics asked. She too was a member of the Coalition High Command, commanding both the Asari Expeditionary Force and the ground forces of the CEF. Her experience went back centuries, and she'd fought her way across the galaxy in conflicts Cole had no knowledge about. She was also an incredible bartender, and contrary to UNSC customs, liked to prepare drinks in the officer's mess hall. There were some rumors of her sexual "proclivities" involving younger marines, but there was nothing to confirm this, and he was inclined to mark it up to rumors. She was reported to be a "biotic", which, if the intelligence brief was correct, meant she was the deadliest person in the room, able to kill any of the other generals with a wave of her hand. At the moment, she and several other officers were standing on the other side of the table, near the holographic projection of the sector they were discussing.

Preston had to admit that were it not for the situation at hand, he might have found the asari attractive to an extent, though nowhere near enough to ever act on it. Besides, even though his wife had disappeared after being outed as an Insurrectionist leader, he had never stopped loving her. And, unknown to ONI, he'd still had intermittent clandestine contact with her. Before the Citadel's entry into the war, Cole had even been planning to fake his death so he could spend his twilight years with her. But now the situation had changed, rendering his plans moot. He was needed here, and he still couldn't decide how to break the news to her. Perhaps he could find a way to have Lyra granted a pardon. He was trying to convince her and her allies to join forces with the UNSC, in exchange for some form of colonial independence.

"Chi Rho fell to the Covenant seven years ago. Retaking this planet will be important for securing the Outer Colonies and continuing our operations in this sector. The planet has large and easily accessible mineral deposits, including tungsten, titanium and fissiles, and the system is located in the middle of the invasion corridor. If we retake it, we can establish resourcing operations and a fleet support base for the UNSC assets operating in the region."

"Scouts have reported that many of the Covenant ships we've managed to isolate are diverting to this system," Commander Jondum Bau piped in; Cole hadn't even noticed him at first. The salarian represented his species' premier intelligence agency, the Special Tasks Group, and also ran the CEF's intelligence-gathering operations, a task he'd taken to with diligence and professionalism. "We believe the Covenant are planning to make a stand in this system. ONI assets are en route to collect additional data."

"Thank you, Commander," Cole acknowledged. "If the Covenant are indeed regrouping at Chi Rho, I believe we must launch a coordinated attack. To take on the heavier Covenant ships we'll need UNSC capital ships. We can send the UNSC Punic, and we can also divert the UNSC Ninth Fleet - they are still combat-effective and operating eight light years away from Chi Rho. With their forty ships we-"

Suddenly, a hatch slid open, cutting the admiral off and admitting a rather weathered salarian. Preston could swear that the amphibian-looking alien was white with fright. The guards tensed up as the salarian limped towards Jondum Bau, tiredly saluted him and handed him a small datapad. As the STG commander read the message, he slowly paled, his eyes going wide at whatever he saw. Dismissing the messenger, the salarian wordlessly returned to the table, the whole room now being visibly on edge. Cole was starting to become nervous as well; the news had to be grave in order to rattle Bau so.

"Gentlemen, our scouts operating in the Ectanus 45 system have reported back. There have been… complications," Bau addressed them, entering a command into his omni-tool. "Uploading data to the server now."

The lights above the holotable dimmed, and the view switched from the system map to a high resolution time lapse video of the scorched glass ball that once was Chi Rho… and a large Covenant fleet in its orbit, the helpfully appended sensor data showing that the fleet consisted of ten Assault-Carriers, Two hundred Battlecruisers, Five hundred escort ships, and supported by several orbital installations. The Covenant had been busy in this system to say the least. This was the largest Covenant fleet ever seen.

Dead silence descended upon the room. They were looking at the largest Covenant fleet ever seen, powerful enough to burn whole worlds in seconds, crush all but the most determined defenders.

Then, as if to add insult to the injury, a slipspace rupture opened, and out came the largest ship Admiral Cole - or anyone else at the table for that matter - had ever seen. According to sensor logs, it was almost thirty kilometers in length and outmassed all the other Covenant ships in the system combined, and a few of the dreaded assault carriers were merely escorting the ship, utterly dwarfed by its bulk. The supercarrier, for that was the only way to call such a behemoth, moved in to dock with one of the stations. A veritable flood of construction and support ships poured out of its hangars and spread across the system, some of them heading towards the planet below. It felt like looking the death itself in the eye.

Cole felt a chill creeping up his spine. He felt sick, like he had to throw up, and he was not alone in that: one of the human generals stepped towards a garbage bin and looked about ready to vomit, while a turian admiral quietly sat down, put his hands together and went almost catatonic. He could swear he heard Admiral Karandis whisper something along the lines of "Spirits, how do we defeat that?".

Mother of God, Preston thought. I hoped - no, I prayed - that the incomplete megaship Task Force Yama destroyed at Naraka along with their fleet support ring was the only one of its kind, merely a prototype. I should have known better. Taking a deep breath to clear his thoughts, Admiral Cole thought back to the first time he'd faced the Covenant, above Harvest, when he had defeated the Covenant super-destroyer and won the first victory of the war.

His mind raced, taking in data, considering his options. There were ten assault carriers, two hundred cruisers and five hundred escorts. The Covenant was taking significant risks bringing a fleet this far, considering that the Coalition had been regularly raiding their supply lines for the last few months. There had to be a reason for them to be out there in force and maintaining a logistical base despite the Coalition closing in on them. Unless...

Realization dawning, Cole called up a map of the invasion corridor on a secondary screen. The Ectanus 45 system, where Chi Rho was located, was right in the middle of a Covenant-controlled salient protruding deep into the UNSC space. Considering its advantageous position and mineral wealth, the system could be quickly turned into an excellent staging area for a deep assault into the UNSC space… and that was clearly what the Covenant was intending to do unless the Coalition did something about this threat. The supercarrier alone was likely so powerful that it could act with impunity towards any garrison forces it met.t. From their base in Chi Rho the Covenant fleet would be able to strike the UNSC with near-impunity, unless they were met by a massive garrison. But that would leave other worlds exposed.. The entire strategic balance of the war would swing in the Covenant's favor. They would dictate where the Coalition fought, and they defeat the Coalition in detail, just like what was happening at Alluvion

Cole began thinking up the tactics he would need to increase his chances of victory and ways to deliver more damage with more precision than was normally possible. One such idea immediately popped into his head: slipspace beacons dropped by prowlers could have the UNSC fleet emerge with high enough precision to be able to hit the supercarrier with everything they had. If they could surprise it with a Punic or two, they might be able to take down its shields, and very few ships tended to survive follow-up MAC strikes and nuke-pumped spears bare-hulled. An alpha-strike by hundreds of ships might be able to destroy the supercarrier.

Considering Coalition fleet composition, we're going to need most of our theater forces for this, Cole thought. Bring everything, and we might win this. It's the only way we can fight this battle on our terms.

Still, he couldn't think of an alternative. No matter if the enemy was forcing them to commit to a decisive battle, Chi Rho couldn't be ignored, even on the off chance it was a trap. If the Covenant were allowed to finish what they were doing on that planet, the war could very well be lost. Therefore, that base had to be destroyed at all costs.

With a fire burning in his heart, Preston Jeremiah Cole straightened his back and slammed a balled fist into the side of the holographic table as everyone turned their heads his way. "This changes nothing. The Covenant fleet in Ectanus 45 is like a dagger aimed at humanity's heart. If they complete their fleet base in that system, the war might as well be lost for humanity. We can't beat the Covenant when they are just a short jump away from resupply and reinforcements. This fleet, supplied by whatever they're setting up on Chi Rho and the surrounding system, could ravage its way through the Inner Colonies, and we would have nothing that could come close to stopping it. We can't defend every colony, or we'll be defeated in detail. We can't outrun them, because they're faster. We have one opportunity of attack, and that's while that beast is in Chi Rho. If we do not attack, we will only loose. It's one gamble. So let's make it work."

At his words, Admiral Karandis snapped out of his stupor, and nodded. "... Yes, Admiral, I see your logic. Karandis gave a fake chuckle. "Your suicidal bravery is rubbing off on me." But that.. Supercarrier worries me," the turian admiral said in a hushed tone Then he grit his teeth and flared his mandibles, straightening up. "We can deploy up to 15,000 ships without dangerously compromising our operations in the invasion corridor. We will need the bulk of the UNSC fleet for this operation as well; it is the only way we can defeat their capital ships. You are insane, Cole, but I see your point. Letting this fleet operate without issue would be conceding defeat, and the only way we can defeat it is we force an engagement with every dirty trick in the book"

Matriarch Aethyta stepped forward; she had not shown the slightest twitch of fear so far. "What about Chi Rho itself? Anything on the planet your scouts discovered, Jondum?"

The salarian nodded, his gaze full of resignation, "The Covenant are constructing, by our estimates, six massive naval assembly yards on the surface of Chi Rho, with a seventh larger structure that has not been identified yet. They are already equipped with shields to protect them against orbital fire support, and so far we have sighted twelve heavy anti-orbital cannons in each. Each of those bases is the size of a small city, and could fit around a million soldiers. But the actual complement is unknown so far."

Matriarch Aethyta nodded. Biting her lower lip as she thought the matter over. "Up to six million Covenant on the planet itself, then. Those anti-orbital cannons must be disabled, because the battle will be hard enough without them. We will need to land ground forces to take them out, and we cannot be sure they can count on orbital support disabling at least some of the enemy's defenses - the navy will have its own battle to fight anyway. Any landing force will be up to its neck in their own blood, even if we manage to soften them up first. Make no mistake, millions will likely be dead by the end." Aethyta let that statement hang in the air. "We'd need to outnumber them four or five to one have good odds of defeating them. That gives us thirty million troops to land in what's likely a short window, maybe more if we take into account losses to enemy AA and fleet action. Deploying that many troops in a 12-hour shock assault is straining our current orbital assault carrier capacity beyond limit."

Jondum Bau did some quick calculations on his omni-tool. "The landing of the main force will require a strict timetable, and require some measure of orbital control. We saw at Alluvion how the Covenant ripped apart those troop transports. The Salarian fleet has the best point defense in the Coalition, we will take that task. "

Fleet Admiral Karandis grunted in dismay. "I agree with Jondum. It's not a question if we can pull this off. Landing thirty-million soldiers upon the surface of Chi Rho can be done. It will be difficult, but we can manage it. Orbital assaults like this happened during the Rachni Wars and the Krogan Rebellions. We landed larger armies on the Krogan core worlds. But that was against an enemy that lost orbital control, and who only had limited anti-orbital weaponry. We are talking about a massive assault with pods and dropships, just so we can clear the area for the troopships to land. This will be while the Covenant fleet tries to break through our lines and attack the troop ships, and the forces on the ground attempt to contest the landings. We'll need to tap into all the drop-certified space assault units we have for the first wave. Losses will be substantial among these elite units, but without them clearing LZ's, any orbital assault is doomed to fail. "

Karandis suddenly slammed an armored fist onto the side of the table. "Alluvion! Now I get it!" Karandis gesticulated as he talked, a quirk Cole had noticed the Fleet Admiral did when he was angry. " That's why the Covenant decided to bypass several worlds to strike at Alluvion. It had a large concentration of forces capable of orbital assaults. The Covenant is trying to limit our orbital assault capability because they knew we'd find out about Chi Rho eventually." He activated his omni-tool. "I am ordering additional patrols near worlds where drop-certified forces are engaged with the Covenant. And dispatching an additional flotilla to reinforce Alluvion." He then nodded for Cole to continue. "Done. Continue as you were."

Cole changed the holographic map to that of the planet itself, the location of the Covenant factory cities were marked, spaced around the equator." The cities under construction. What if we timed our assault-." Cole suddenly noticed that he'd been wrong, in the heat of the moment he hadn't noticed that the Assembly Yards were in fact not evenly spaced. The seventh assembly yard, the unfinished one, was much further away from the other assembly forges, and not as close to the equator. "Why is that city separate from the others. And why is it bigger?"

Bau typed something into his omni-tool, checked it twice, then turned back to Cole. "I had not noticed that." The Salarian noted bitterly. "I am comparing their location to orbital geographic sca- Oh that's interesting. The seventh Assembly Yard is built upon a shield volcano, while the others are placed near tectonic hotspots as well.."

"Volcanoes? Are they using them for geothermal power?" Aethyta suddenly spoke up. "I didn't know the Covenant did that."

Cole's mind suddenly flashed back. He'd heard of Covenant naval assembly yards and volcanoes before. Several years ago.

OPERATION: PROMETHEUS was top secret, but he had been informed about it. PROMETHEUS had involved the Covenant using artificial volcanism to produce materials for ships, and the Spartan-III Company that had died to shut it down. But that had been a planetoid. This… was much bigger.

"They're using it for raw materials," he said gravely. "The damn Covenant are tapping into a shield volcano and using it to pump magma up from the surface, so they can process it for their spacecraft. If they can actually process that material fast enough..." Cole said, shocked, and not a little bit awed.

There was an awkward silence.

"Can we blow it up?" Matriarch Aethyta asked. "Or clog up the mechanism until the pressure causes it to burst. Their machinery, whatever it is, is somehow able to contain the pressure of a shield volcano and only siphon off enough to feed their industry. If we disable that mechanism, the volcano should erupt."

Jondum looked at her incredulously. "Potentially yes. It's not like Chi Rho has a biosphere left to kill." He paused. "We'd need a tiny strike team for this. Spartans and Specters. The absolute best of the best. It has to be small enough that they can sabotage the Assembly Yard, and still be evacuated safely. Shaped warp bombs and HAVOK tactical nukes would be the best weapons for this."

Fedorian looked at Cole. "How many Spartans can you get for the attack on Chi Rho. We're going to need them."

"I'll try to get as many as possible." Cole said.

Jondum Bau said.. "The STG has been using Prowlers on loan from ONI for a while now and we have been experimenting with adding Mass Effect drives to these vessels. Unlike Slipspace drives, exiting FTL will not cause fissile materials to give off Cherenkov radiation. We can open up the battle with a large nuclear minefield in the middle of their formation."

Cole scratched his chin. There was some faint stubble. "If those same prowlers can plant slipspace beacons, I can jump my fleet into the optimal range to immediately open fire upon the Covenant fleets from behind. If the Security Council agreed to deploy our remaining four Punic-class Supercarriers, we can have them open fire upon the Supercarrier the moment they drop out of slipspace. That is eight Super MAC rounds concentrated upon a single ship. If that doesn't drop their shields, we have nothing that will."

Cole reached for the hologram before them, and waved it aside to move to an image of the Ectanus 45 system. He began scribbling lines describing the battle plan.

"The CEF will exit FTL and immediately open fire upon the Covenant ships to draw their attention. When the battle has begun, we detonate the nuclear mines to coincide with the arrival of the UNSC fleet. Under the cover of the chaos caused by the minefield, the Punic, Trafalgar, Adrianople, and the Verdun will immediately open fire, and engage the Supercarrier with everything they have. The UNSC fleet will focus on engaging the Covenant capital ships, while the CEF takes on the remaining escorts, as well as any targets of opportunity."

Matriarch Aethyta got a cheeky grin on her face. "Squeeze them from both sides. I like it. This would be a good time to unleash fireships. Right?"

Fedorian nodded. "The CEF can transform many of our older frigates into unmanned fireships and throw them all at the Covenant. We're talking hundreds of suicide drones, all moving at high speed and ladden with warp bombs and nuclear warheads."

Matriarch Aethyta then added. "The planetary landings should be preceded by large scale bombardment of the entire planet. Full scale nuclear annihilation near the chosen LZ's, and around the Assembly Yards in a wide radius. Can the UNSC arrange that?" She asked.

Cole nodded without a moment's hesitation.

"Well that's great. The bombardment can be used as cover for the deployment of our drop-certified forces. They will clear landing sites alongside our special forces. The moment the LZ's are clear, we begin landing the troopships as a whole. No time for dropships. We attack the Assembly Yards the moment the first normal troops have landed, and we keep attacking. Time will be everything. Weight of numbers and heavy firepower will have to win the day. Everyone in agreement."

"Very Well," Cole surmised. "Then we have a rough draft of a battle plan. I will recommend it to the Security Council. I ask you to do the same to your governments." He added. "We should attack within two months. Time is of utmost importance here."

Cole sat in his office, waiting for the response from the UNSC Security Council to arrive. He'd sent them the plan half an hour ago. He was thankful for the new Comm Buoys placed throughout UNSC space. Just a year ago, a request like this could have taken months to travel to Reach, and for a response to be sent back. The response came in on his computer. He scanned through, ignoring the codenames, the list of clearance codes he needed to read it, and the punishments for breaking the communications protocols. He just wanted to read the contents.

"Admiral Cole, your request has been accepted. You are being put in command of a new battlegroup codename: KALI-BLACK. Your flagship will be the UNSC Trafalgar.

According to analysis by ONI AI, If enemy force designated: ARMAGEDDON is allowed to operate freely, the complete annihilation of humanity is projected to happen within five years. Defeat is not an option.

With the time table available, the forces we can gather for this offensive are estimated to be:

SPACE ASSETS:
4 PUNIC-CLASS SUPERCARRIERS
22 EPOCH-CLASS HEAVY CARRIERS
37 EVEREST-CLASS HEAVY CRUISERS
31 ORION-CLASS ASSAULT CARRIERS
189 MARATHON-CLASS CRUISERS
74 VINDICATION-CLASS LIGHT BATTLESHIPS
89 HALCYON-CLASS CRUISERS
279 HALBERD-CLASS DESTROYERS
301 PARIS-CLASS FRIGATES

Additional:
123 Halcyon-class cruisers from storage are available to be used as sacrificial shielding.
Enough transports for the entire ground force will be provided as preparations continue.
Four mobile refit stations will be provided as sacrificial shielding.
GROUND ASSETS:
22 SPARTAN II OPERATORS
36,253 ORBITAL DROP SHOCK TROOPERS
610,000 MARINE CORPS PERSONNEL
770,000 UNSC ARMY PERSONNEL

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Addendum:

Godspeed, Cole. This is the battle this whole damn war has been leading up to. Hit them with everything we have, and drive them back to wherever they came from.

-Lord Terrance Hood."