1200 hours, September 16th, 2542
Private dining chamber, Covenant supercarrier Through Moonlight Reflection Upon This Faithful Odyssey Do We Find Salvation From This Universe Of Sin, In Which We Have Been Shackled (abbreviation: Moonlight Reflection), low Chi Rho orbit, Ectanus 45 system
Shiala was in trouble.
The Asari Commando had been in the process of infiltrating a Covenant base when she was captured by the guards. The last thing she remembered was an ambush by Elites wielding red-colored energy swords. Her thermographic scanners saved her life, and for the next few minutes she'd been engaged in a running gunfight before her enemies drove her into a corner. She'd managed to plug an Elite with a burst of warp rounds from her carbine and pulp the torso of another with a biotics-empowered punch before a grenade went off, disabling her armor and putting in some kind of stasis. She had been stripped of her weapons, gagged and fitted with some sort of neural restraint device - not only made it her movements feel very sluggish, it also almost completely disabled her biotics somehow - a side effect, perhaps? Her powers evidently scared the Covenant, as besides Grunts feeding her using some kind of nipple-like device, she had been kept in total isolation in a rather sparse cell. They didn't even strip her of armor, merely removing all power sources they could identify.
Then, one day, she woke up to a stun grenade blast. was blindfolded picked up by two pairs of strong arms and dragged out of her cell and through what felt like a hallway. She carefully listened to footsteps and her own heartbeat, counting each second. This had been her fourth day of captivity, and she had yet to find a way to commit suicide. Her suicide capsules - including the one in her tooth - had been taken, and she'd not yet found a sharp object to use. Running off the auxiliary power cells, her armor was almost out of power and soon would be little more than dead weight. Still, she did not give away any discomfort she might be experiencing. The neural restraint collar and her missing biotic amp limited her options significantly, sure, but she would try to resist in any way she could.
Then the blindfold was removed, and she found herself standing in an antechamber before a large door. Her guards let go of her and took their position at the doorway.
The door slid open and in stepped a tall, muscular Elite who wore a deep purple robe that covered a yellow suit of armor. The two guards saluted the newcomer and stiffened up. He clearly was a highly esteemed figure.
"My name is Thel 'Vadamee, and you will be my guest," he spoke before ushering her into the elaborately furnished chamber beyond.
"Sit," the newly-named Thel 'Vadamee instructed, guiding Shiala towards an ornate chair opposite his own. It was made of a beautiful deep brown lumber with a pattern that almost seemed alive. The chair had been inlaid with beautiful ivory and decorated with intricate carvings. The tableware was made of what looked like silver and marked with symbols that Shialla could not recognize.
This had not been what she had expected. Was she a guest? The Covenant didn't take humans prisoner, and she had no reason to believe they would treat those standing beside humans any differently, so why did they make an exception? For a brief moment, fears of being a trophy wife to the Fleetmaster played through her mind, but she squashed them. She'd kill herself before that happened.
The Fleetmaster sat down on the chair across from Shiala, then clapped his hands twice. A large door opened, briefly revealing a vast kitchen area filled with what had to be dozens of Elites - and only Elites - creating meals, the scent for a moment taking Shiala out of her worries. Through the doorway came the first Elite the commando had ever seen wearing what could be described as "formal wear." He had no visible armor and wore thick burgundy robes, carrying a tray in each hand. He moved to the table and placed a tray, covered by an opaque energy shield, in front of each of them, then pressed a button on each tray, and the shield domes disappeared. Shialla was instantly overwhelmed by an almost divine scent, the most delicious scent she had ever experienced. There were large chunks of sliced meats arranged in an intricate pattern, carefully prepared with oils and spices and complemented by a wide selection of what she thought were greens. Next to the food was a bowl with some type of soup and a bowl of water.
Before her eyes, the waiter cut out a small slice of the food himself and ate it. Shialla surmised it was to test for poison. The Elite then spoke, "You are to clean your hands before you eat," before taking a pyramidal bottle from the table and filling the glasses that had been set. He sounded courteous, friendly even.
Shiala looked at the food with some confusion, then raised an eyebrow at Thel 'Vadamee. "Why haven't you killed me yet?"
The Elite gave her a somewhat unsettling facsimile of a grin."If I wanted you dead, you would be. I rarely invite a defeated opponent to feast with me, but slaying a Silent Shadow is an admirable feat, especially for a female. Now eat." With these words, the Elite took a long silver spike and speared a slice of the meat, dipping it in the bowl of soup, carefully turning it around and then eating it.
Shialla grinned as she thought back to the singular ambusher she had been able to kill for certain, ripping him apart with biotic might. So, she mimicked the Fleetmaster, determined to get the most out of this particular exchange. And she could use the energy. "And I am rarely invited to dinner by an enemy officer, Admiral 'Vadamee. It is not a luxury I had expected to receive."
"Fleetmaster," Thel 'Vadamee corrected. "Now, I am sure you have many questions. You are my guest, and I will answer them."
"I do. Why are you inviting me to a special feast while you kill all humans on sight? " Shialla took a sip of her wine, instantly noticing the outstanding flavor. It was creamy, flavorful, and there was just the right amount of bitterness that added to the taste. There was also a soft warmth to the drink, a bite on the way down. It was absolutely amazing, and she had to fight back the urge to not gulp it all down. "What is the difference between us and them?"
The Fleetmaster let out a noise that Shialla took to be mild annoyance. "The humans are a cursed species, damned for their blasphemous actions against the gods, actions so foul I will not speak of them at this meal. Suffice to say, your species has not been declared lost by the Hierarchs, or even to be against the faith. You are an outsider, not a heretic, and therefore you deserve the treatment all Sangheili give honorable females, especially fierce warrior women like yourself."
Shialla Vasir wished she could inform the Citadel Council of what she had just learned The fact they were open to some form of dialogue with the races of the Citadel was useful. Perhaps it could be an avenue for peace or even just some measure of negotiations. Noticing that the Fleetmaster was really getting into his speech, she decided to try to sneak one of the knives below her armguard.
"So. What do you believe will happen to the other races of the Citadel if we are not heretics," Shiala asked cautiously.
"We do not know much about your races or worlds. Your operational security is formidable, as well as the commitment of your soldiers. So far not a single stealth operative we've captured has broken under interrogation, preferring to commit suicide when possible. Your soldiers in the field fight with honor and commitment, dying on their feet. This is always admirable, even if it's done for the wrong cause. Battles against turians are the kind of glorious struggle we Sangheili are bred for. The kind that forge great empires and unify a people in purpose." There was a pause. "The humans will be destroyed for their sins, and then we will decide how to integrate you into the Covenant, be it by conquest or by entering a tributary relationship."
"You believe co-existence as equals is not possible?" Shiala asked. "Your government seems to have a fixation on conquering or destroying anyone they come across. Why is this?"
The Elite waited a few seconds before responding, sounding as if he was repeating something he'd rehearsed. "The Covenant was formed to unite the Galaxy in following the path of the gods and to head towards glorious salvation. To not bring other races into the fold if they are righteous or not destroy them if they are wicked would be akin to admitting defeat. That is unacceptable. Your race will be brought into the Covenant."
"Has the Covenant ever discovered another starfaring civilization?" Shiala asked.
"None that weren't deemed unclean."
"Then what are the asari, turians, the salarians? What do you classify us as?"
Thel 'Vadamee took another bite of the carefully prepared meat then sipped his wine. "No verdict of damnation has been declared against your race, so you will not be purged like the humans. If such a verdict is passed down to me, your people will be cleansed."
"And what will happen to me?" Shialla asked, subtly
Thel looked at her with a gaze that could bring grown a krogan to their knees. "I will execute you for trying to pocket a knife."
The game was up. Shiala leapt to her feet, expending the energy she'd been carefully conserving and leapt towards the Fleetmaster, knife at the ready.
Blurring back, the Elite drew his energy sword and cut her head off in one fluid motion.
1745 hours, September 17th, 2542
Fleetmaster's Sanctum, Covenant supercarrier Through Moonlight Reflection Upon This Faithfull Odyssey Do We Find Salvation From This Universe Of Sin, In Which We Have Been Shackled (abbreviation: Moonlight Reflection), low Chi Rho orbit, Ectanus 45 system
Fleetmaster Thel 'Vadamee stepped inside his private sanctum. He was somewhat grumpy about having to interrupt the first proper meal he'd had in the weeks since he'd began preparing his master plan. Commanding the collective might of a Ministry was utterly exhausting, and it was starting to grate at the Fleetmaster.
Truth had been somewhat troublesome so far. Ordering attacks that seemed to function little purposes for the first few weeks of the arrival of the Citadel races. This had changed when the scale of the threat became apparent, and Thel was given the freedom to do what he needed to win.
In the center of Thel's room was a single small holographic emitter build into a small table. The Fleetmaster moved to touch the device, then kneeled before it as a holographic image of the Hierarch Truth appeared.
"Fleetmaster. I thought my forces were in safe hands when I gave you full command of your forces. So when my agents reported to me of your order to mass all the ships of the Ministry of Resolution to a single former human world, while only waging limited offensives against this "Citadel," I was quite reluctant to believe them at first. But evidently, it's true. Explain your plan."
Thel blinked at the uncharacteristic anger in the San'Shyuum voice. "Noble Hierarch. I simply lack the ships and the logistics I need to wage war on the scale we have found ourselves in. I have pulled my forces back and consolidated them in this system to avoid defeat in detail. I am constructing a new supply base for the fleet, so our overstretched supply lines do not become easy pickings for enemy raiders."
It pained Thel to admit, but the gross numerical superiority of the Citadel forces allowed them more strategic options than the Covenant, whose numbers were stretched by existing commitments, or by bureaucratic inertia. The Citadel struck his lines wherever a point of weakness developed and exploited it ruthlessly to cut his capital ships off from their supply lines, before crushing them with overwhelming numbers. It had taken weeks of meticulous planning, reassignments, and more than a few executions to reorganize the command structure of the Ministry of Resolution to combat the new threat. It had taken several crushing defeats before the disparate factions of the Covenant forced under his command had finally started listening. Thel had presided over the most substantial Covenant ship losses in centuries. The Covenant, in all honesty, was not equipped for defensive warfare on a strategic level, they just did not have experience with it. The Covenant military was built to expand, not to hold the line. The Ministry of Resolution did not have enough ships to guard the entirety of the front, which let the enemy breakthrough and strike the weaker Covenant supply lines, or isolate his stronger vessels. So far, he'd only launched limited offensives, small raids to test new tactics and stratagems for his warriors. He had superior ships, and he knew how to use them. In their retreat, the Covenant would leave nothing the humans could use. He would have done more, if not for the other Ministries pulling out of the war, content to let the Ministry of Resolution carry the burden.
He nodded at the Hierarch. "The forces of the Ministry of Resolution alone simply do not suffice for a front this vast, and so far from our supply lines. I need at least five hundred more ships to be able to effectively guard against enemy intrusions behind our lines, and be able to launch offensives at the same time. I can not hold the space conquered since the start of the war, and wage offensive wars at the same time. I must beseech you to grant me more ships."
Truth looked conflicted. "There are no more ships available, Fleetmaster. You will have to suffice with what you have available." Truth said, his voice dripping with a mixture of anger and frustration, utterly devoid of any compassion. "When the war turned against us, many of the more opportunistic Ministries pulled out, and I can not command them to return. The Sangheili fleets are clustering in the sectors around Sanghelios, while the other Ministries are keeping their forces in reserves, or on other parts of the border. I am negotiating for the assistance of more Ministries, but this will take time."
"What about the Ministry of Fervent Intercession? The Long Night of Solace is ready, is it not?"
"They are chasing legends of the Maethrillian, hallowed be Faber's works. Unless you found any relics, they will refuse to assist."
"What about the Ministry of Preservation or the Ministry of Concert? They have standing fleets, but no territory of their own." Thel was beginning to feel anger burning in his chest at the political machinations that were hamstringing the Covenant.
Truth snarled. "That will be more difficult than expected. The Ministress of Conversion convinced Concert to refuse to interfere until a full verdict has been made on the future of the Citadel races, and they have formed a power block which is railing against me, demanding a re-examination of the Humans status as heretics. And the Minister of Preservation is zealously hoarding his fleets after Concert tried to absorb his Ministry last year."
Thel repressed his desire to break the nearest piece of furniture at the political posturing. The Sangheili were dying because the San'shyuum could not make up their minds. "But the humans are heretics! They destroyed sacred relics!" Thel blurted out. "Surely, to question such a thing is heresy!"
Truth snorted. "Conversion is citing the absolution of the crimes of the Lekgolo and demanding a great conclave to decide the purity of both the Humans and the Citadel races. This is within her rights as Ministress of Conversion."
Thel paused for a moment, his mind racing as he thought of anyone who could help him to win the war. Then the answer came upon him, a large fleet not currently assigned to any missions. Then answered. "What about Imperial Admiral Xytan? His forces are technically under our Ministry, are they not? With him, we could guarantee victo-"
"Absolutely not." Truth stated. "Xytan is where he needs to be. We still need to guard our borders, and that is what his forces are best used for. I do, however, have something else I can provide you with. I've read your reports about the way the Demons have been used against you and thought of a way to defend ourselves from them when they launch their inevitable attacks on the Assembly Yards."
Thel nodded. The Human's preference for deploying their demons to strategic locations like those the Assembly yards represented was starting to circulate amongst Covenant commanders, and Thel had been preparing the Assembly Yards to defend against them. He'd stationed some of his best Spec Ops in cloaked corvettes, ready to counter-deploy wherever the demons struck. But the kind of special forces that could be deployed against the "Spartans" were rarely available in high numbers.
Truth gave a cheeky grin. "I am sending seven squads of the Silent Shadow to join your forces, as well as some of my personal ships to assist. There is great wisdom in your plan. When your plan comes to fruition, either we'll force a confrontation on our terms, or we defeat the enemy in detail. With the humans destroyed, we can decide how to deal with the Citadel."
"Hierarch?" Thel said. "Have there been any discoveries about our new opponents? I can hardly fight them if I know so little. I know their races, rough estimates of their tactics, the numbers they field. But that is all. I am receiving reports of some type of blue mammalian race that wield demonic powers against our forces, stoic avian warriors fighting a war to the knife, dying before they retreat, massive mammalian tank-like creatures with cannons on their backs, and amphibians that slip through our lines and leave naught but destroyed equipment and cut throats. This, and the fact they are not damned like the Humans, confuses me."
"No, Fleetmaster. We know dreadfully little about this "Citadel." From what the High Council of Masters has gathered, all we know is that they appeared above the human world of New Milan, incorporated their forces with those of the humans. Fear not, however, their technology does not match ours, and the grace of the gods is with us. We will win this war, and the banner of the Covenant will fly above their Homeworlds soon enough."
The Fleetmaster nodded. The hologram turned off.
Thel made a hand gesture and called up a large holographic map of the front. No reinforcements were coming, so he'd have to make do with what he had.
1729 hours, September 19th, 2542 (UNSC military calendar)
Coalition High Command War Room, Ring B, New Ghent Station Alpha
Cole felt his new Fleet Admiral medals weighing him down as he overlooked the holographic map of the Invasion corridor. Fleet Admiral Karandis stood across from him, discussing a logistical matter with one of his officers. Cole tuned out the noise all around him, honing his attention to a fine edge, and focussing it all upon the holographic map. He tried to imagine just what his counterpart on the Covenant was thinking, his plans and movements.
He made a motion with his hand to raise the flat holographic map and to give him a three-dimensional overview of the front.
The Covenant invasion corridor was like a dagger that had been driven into the human sphere, from which extended dozens of "roots" that had spread out and hit many of the former worlds of humanity. The tip of this dagger had been blunted and pushed back to the old frontier between the inner and the outer colonies, where the fighting had slowed down as the Covenant recovered from the sudden intervention of the Citadel's fleets. Operation: CRUSADER had been a success in that aspect. Cole magnified this area, observing the irregular pattern of front, the way it looked jagged in places, with a handful of salients sticking out into either the Coalition or the Covenant's side of the border.
"Dove. Highlight all reported Covenant attacks for me." He said to his personal AI, which jumped into life on the holotank, causing a few of the Turians to visibly grimace at his presence. The Citadel races didn't have good experiences with artificial intelligence but did not protest officially to the UNSC's usage of them. So far, the UNSC's AI assigned to Coalition High Command tended to work behind the scenes, crunching the zettabytes of information that streamed in from across the Comm Buoy networks.
Dove's avatar held up a hand, and the locations of the Covenant raids lit up. Thirteen worlds had been hit by the Covenant to some extent the last week, raided by Covenant warships, or even partially glassed. But it all looked like opportunistic attacks. At least, on the surface. Cole thought back to Karandis's realization that the Covenant was targeting drop-certified forces, and tried to connect this to some overarching Covenant battle plan.
"Did you notice something, Cole?" Karandis asked, putting his signature on a requisition form carried by one of the turian officers. The Fleet Admiral was feverishly at work managing his subordinates and attachés in preparation of the planned attack on Chi Rho.
"There is something about the tactics used by the Covenant that is perplexing me, but I can't quite put the finger on it." Cole reached for one of the worlds and pulled the hologram closer. "Dove. Show me the last known positions of Covenant ships."
The AI leaped up onto one of the holographic planets, sat down, and sent out a flock of white doves that transformed into markers of Covenant ships. They were spread equally across the front. There was nothing about what he saw that looked out of the ordinary. That was when an idea came upon him.
"Only show me their capital ships."
Most of the markers blinked out of existence, leaving only forty-nine Covenant ship sightings on their side of the front. There was still no pattern, nothing that correlated to the human worlds that had been attacked.
"Calculate the distance between the two closest formations, then extrapolate the positions of theoretical Covenant forces, at the same distance from each other. Assume they are going for equal coverage."
A network of markers appeared across the front, the markers representing theoretical ships a bright shade of pink. They were spread across the front in a lattice, almost like a net that was containing human space. This was unsurprising, and not something Cole could work with. But there was still something off. The attacks on human worlds seemed to be picked at random, mere opportunistic attacks. But the Covenant Fleetmaster Thel 'Vadamee wasn't random, was he? There had to be another even bigger picture to what he saw.
That or the stimulants in Cole's coffee had finally begun to melt his brain. He took a swig from a cup that stood nearby, not seeing anyone who'd claimed it. The cup was cold, but the rush of energy shot through him all the same.
"Highlight Covenant carriers, then connect them to the nearest worlds that were attacked last week."
Seven markers lit up, each connected to several reported attacks. But it still looked like there were gaps in what he was seeing. No real pattern was starting to emerge. Then an idea struck him.
"Dove, were any of the reported attacks different from any of the others?"
There was a pause.
"Captain, three of the reported attacks were Special Ops raids." Three lines lit up, each connected to a different carrier. Still no correlation.
Cole leaned forward and took stock of the situation. Special Ops raids upon human worlds were relatively rare, but high-risk affairs. He started to suspect that there was more to those three random events. "Dove, search through all known industrial accidents that had even the slightest effect on military production or supply lines, show me those that could theoretically have been sabotage."
Karandis looked Cole over with a scrupulous eye. "Fleet Admiral, perhaps you should rest? You're looking for-" The turian stopped when he saw the new lines forming, each of them connecting to a carrier. While a few lines were unconnected, the majority converged quite evenly to a carrier each. To the trained eye of a strategist, the picture was clear, the carriers were located in the perfect position to hit multiple worlds with special forces. The Covenant was using their carriers in a new way, as platforms for stealth raids upon human space. It could explain the way the Covenant knew precisely when to attack Alluvion. They must have had a cloaked ship in the system. "Well, I'll be… Dove, add theoretical carriers to create an optimal deployment pattern but keep the numbers in line with known Covenant fleet dispositions. Add twenty percent to total tonnage to account for reinforcements and consolidation."
Two markers representing carriers lit up, which, when connected to what looked like isolated attacks, quickly filled in the gaps of the puzzle.
Cole said. "We've gotten too complacent with the Covenant. We should have looked at the larger picture, at what the Covenant could theoretically do. The attacks on Fair Meadow and Alluvion, the raids, and sabotage actions behind the lines. I think we're dealing with more than just opportunistic strikes at priority targets. This is a new Covenant paradigm. Dove, show the Covenant fleet positions again, show theoretical ships the same way as normal ones."
The holographic map changed to show the Covenant ships positioned across the front in the form of what had to be clusters of at least a dozen ships each, from these the Covenant would be in an excellent position to attack targets of opportunity. Then there were the Carriers, each of them positioned so that the Covenant could launch Special Ops attacks across the entirety of the border of the Inner Colonies, and at the center, Chi Rho, with the vast bulk of the Covenant fleet.
"We're not dealing with competent Covenant shipmasters hitting targets of opportunity, we might be dealing with a massive coordinated battle plan," Cole said, bringing up force deployment statistics. "The Covenant are using their fastest ships to engage our numerically superior forces in delaying actions, while looking for weaknesses to exploit, forcing us to dedicate a much larger portion of our fleet to stop them from slipping past our lines and wreaking havoc. We also need increased garrisons in the event of Covenant Special Ops launching attacks upon vulnerable worlds. The Covenant is avoiding fights, and instead trying to get behind our lines."
Karandis grumbled. "It looks like they just copied our own tactics, but modified them to suit their ship types."
"Karandis," Cole said. "Order your fleets to engage the Covenant instead of moving around them. You need to keep them pinned on the back foot. That way, we can safely pull forces away from other theatres of operation. Keep our other forces thin. We'll need as many ships for Chi Rho."
1200 hours, September 23th 2542 (UNSC military calendar)
War Room, Aboard Covenant Supercarrier: Through Moonlight Reflection Upon This Faithfull Odyssey Do We Find Salvation From This Universe Of Sin, In Which We Have Been Shackled. In orbit of Chi Rho, Ectanus 45 system.
Battle Abbreviation: Moonlight Reflection.
"They did not take the bait," Thel stated as he looked at the strategic map of the human sphere. The Coalition had not taken advantage of the weaknesses in the Covenant lines and was instead directly engaging the smaller fleets Thel had deployed in order to harass the humans. It was drawing off less ships than he would have preferred. Not so few that his Chi Rho buildup could be stopped, but enough that it gave him second thoughts about what to do. He had to deplete his enemies more to stack the deck in his favor.
The assembled lesser fleet masters of the Ministry of Resolution were in the room, waiting for his next command. Thel had personally executed seven shipmasters for chasing glory and had their heads placed on spikes in between where the fleet masters had assembled. The message had been conveyed quite effectively.
"Combine the border fleets into small raiding forces, up to twenty ships at most, and have them graze the borders of the humans. Use your faster escort and wolf-pack ships for this, they can match the Citadel in speed. Focus on inflicting as many casualties as possible upon their border forces. Avoid contact with larger forces. I want ship kills, not glassed worlds. Do -not- engage the larger forces behind their lines, merely attack their forward elements, then pull back."
1729 hours, September 25th, 2542 (UNSC military calendar)
Fleet Admiral Cole's private quarters, Ring B, New Ghent Station Alpha
Cole bit back a yawn and looked at the holographic map of the Coalition's defensive lines. There were eighteen confirmed reports of Covenant fleets targeting and hunting down the Forward Expansion Forces that operated on the borders. The Covenant had stopped trying to break through to the human worlds behind the Coalition lines. They were going for ship kills. It was surprisingly restrained for Covenant tactics, but it was to be expected with the way Thel 'Vadamee had acted so far. The Elite's moves were calculated in a way no other Covenant force had been so far.
Karandis stood in the door opening, mandibles fluttering as he examined the incoming after-action reports. The Covenant was exacting a heavy toll upon the Turian ships, nearly triple that since the Citadel intervention had started. The Turian shipyards outproduced the losses, but it was a sobering realization nevertheless. The Turian Fleet Admiral was as impassive as when Cole had first met him. But there was definitely something bright missing in the Turian, which had been replaced by steely determination. There was little the Coalition could do, except increase patrol sizes, and continue to keep countering the Covenant wolf packs until the battle for Chi Rho.
"Cole. I've received word from the Hierarchy. The CEF will be ready for a full-scale deployment to Chi Rho upon December 5th. But R&D has developed something they think can even the odds. They think it's a game-changer. I came to tell you personally because, to be frank, you look like you need some good news."
Cole leaned forward, eager to hear what the Turian had to say.
The Turian activated his Omni-Tool and showed a hologram of what looked like archer missiles. "Your ONI Eezonic Materials Group found a way to use a directed warp field to disable one of the plasma torpedo cores discovered inside the Battlecruiser on New Ghent. Palavan is shipping thousands of extra disruptor torpedoes to New Ghent as we speak. These modified torpedoes can disperse a plasma torpedo if they manage to hit one center mass."
Realization shot through Cole. It felt too good to be true. "Are you saying we finally have a way to intercept a plasma torpedo?"
"Yes, we do." Karandis grinned.