1000 hours, September 18, 2531 (military calendar) /
Wulpan sector, Harvest star system,
Fleet entry vector
Harvest hung in space like a marble, its glassy surface long since cooled. It was now just a barren cracked rock. A hundred thousand kilometers away, space distorted and shifted. Ships began appearing at random intervals around this section of space. Destroyers, frigates, carriers, and cruisers emerged from slipstream space and quickly regrouped. A series of pings sounded across the COM. The signal the begin the attack. The seven groups accelerated towards Harvest. Then the COM channels became a flurry of crossed transmissions. The Covanent fleet wasn't there. On the Orion commander Quincy rapped out commands. 'Lieutenant Allison, get me a COM channel to the Dominion on the double!' 'Sir, the COM channels are all packed tight nothing is getting in or out.' The lieutenant reported as calmly as she could manage. 'Sir, broadband transmission coming from the Dominion, its overriding the normal channels and being broadcast over private channels to each ship individually.' 'Onscreen lieutenant.' Admiral Cole's face appeared on the main viewscreen. 'This is Admiral Cole to all ships in the fleet, cease transmissions, I repeat cease transmissions you are clogging the channels and orders are not getting through.' 'I want the fleet to regroup and proceed into orbit around Harvest, Cole out.' The transmission cut out and the screen reverted to its view of the planet. 'Lieutenant Foreman, cut engine power to fifty and group with the fleet.' 'Aye sir.' Where the hell were they?. The fleet grouped up and proceeded towards Harvest. Then motes of light appeared at the fore of the fleet. Space shimmered and moved. The stars and Harvest were blocked from view. A Covanent ship appeared not one hundred kilometers in front of the lead ship. Then to it's sides space was again distorted and two more Covanent ships appeared. Then behind and to the left and right. It was an ambush! 'Full halt now!' Commander Quincy shouted as the Covanent ships appeared. The Orion ground to a halt as Lieutenant Foreman activated the emergeny thrusters on the prow of the destroyer. Commander Quincy was thrown from his chair and slammed into the metal rail in front of him. Collision warnings blared across all the ships in the fleet as one by one they came to a stop, some nearly crashing as the ship in front of them stopped. The destroyer Slalom came to a halt a little too late. The massive craft crashed into the rear of the frigate Powell. The vessels collided with devestating force. The heavier warship clipped the engine baffles of the frigate. Metal screeched and bent as the tension became to much. The entire thruster housing along with a quarter of the ship's rear was torn away from the rest on the vessel. The rear section of Powell scraped across the nose of the Slalom and tumbled off the side. On the Dominion the entire war room shook violently as thousands of tons of titanium A battleplate, travelling at hundreds of kilometers a second suddenly stopped. Machienery toppled and crashed to the deck as crewmen were thrown across the room. An ensign screamed as his station suddenly broke loose of the wall and crushed him. Admiral Cole was hurled into one of his advisors who tired to catch him as both of them fell to the deck. The admiral rolled off the man and tried to stand.
Nearly every other ship in to fleet collided scraped and bumped off each other. Thrusters were fired in an attempt to slow the ships which merely added to the chaos. The Covanent ships wasted not a second of the ensueing turmoil. The pulse lasers across the hulls of the ships glowed as they built up a charge. The combined brightness of all the weaponry overloaded sensors and blacked out several screens. The Covanent ships fired as one. Bolts of plasma streaked through space and impacted with the UNSC vessels. Battleplate boiled away as the superheated charges collided along the hulls of seven frigates, two destroyers and the cruiser Epsilon. Angry patches of red appeared around the damaged sections as several of the ships vented atmosphere. The frigate Kraken took a hit to its reactor. The plasma burned through the hull and touched off the fusion core. The ship blossomed into fire as explosions ripped along the length and tore through the hull from the inside outwards. The silent force blasted out the rear of the main thrusters and melted the exhaust ports shut which cooled instantly as the atmosphere vented and the fires dimmed. The burning hulk floated dead in space.
Commander Quincy opened his eyes slowly. His vison was blurred and spots flashed across his sight. He reached up to his forehead. It felt warm and moist. He drew his hand back and stared at the blood covering his fingers. He tried to rise but slipped back. He heard shouting, all around him. The noise pounded through his head. It ached so much… Someone appeared above looking down at him. 'Hold on sir this may sting a bit.' He felt a pinch at his shoulder and then something flowed into his veins. His head stopped pounding and his blood cooled. His heart rate slowed and his vision began to swim and then clear. Lieutenant Wesley kneeled over him holding and emptied syringe. His entire right pantleg was drenched in his own blood and he was shaking. He offered a trembling hand to the commander who took it gratefully. Commander Quincy struggled up, he reached out and grabbed the railing. Peering around him he took in the state of the bridge. Monitors and stations were gutted, cracked and damaged. Some were sparked out and some were on fire. Below the platform in the "brain cradle" his other three bridge officers were still at their posts, although they were injured and working frenziedly. Other crewmen were around the bridge frantically trying to put out fires and repair equipment. The entire bridge was bathed in a harsh red light. The viewscreen was a mess of static. 'D-d-damage report.' The commander said shakily. Wesley looked around hopelessly and turned to face him. 'Sir, we took a hit to the bridge from a plasma bolt.' The lieutenant pointed upwards. The entire top of the birdge was covered with the emergency hatch. 'Navigation is out, decks eight through fifteen have been burned through, Archer missile pods A4 through B3 are inoperable, reactor coolant pipes have been damaged, and the engines are offline.' The commander stared back at him. 'What's going on… what is happening outside, the battle… who ordered the crew to… The commander trailed off. 'Sendai organized the emergency response, she is in command at the moment, as for the battle… we have no way of knowing, sensors are offline we're basically dead in space in the middle of a battle sir, we could have another plasma bolt headed straight for us and not know it until we were hit.' The lieutenant just stood there staring, his eyes seemed to lose focus as he spoke up again, 'sir, are we going to die?' The question was so innocuous and simple. Yet it felt so forebodingly dooming. 'I don't know.' Was all the commander could reply.
On the Dominion it was a different story however. Admiral Cole grabbed the edge of the tactical display and pulled himself up. He was unhurt. The advisor who had tried to catch him stood up as well. They looked around at the damage. Most of the crew were injured some minorly some seriously. The admiral didn't waste another moment. He strode over to the wall and hit the alarm. The emergency response teams would arrive within moments. 'Everyone, I want all essential personnel to the main bridge on the double.' With that the admiral grabbed his case and cap and dashed out of the war room. Moments later the crew poured out behind him. They passed the ships doctors, emergency workers, and engineers who passed them in the corridor. The admiral took the lift up to the bridge and entered. The bridge was darkened and devoid of life. The entire cruiser could be commanded from the war room so no personnel were needed on the bridge. The admiral called out, 'lights.' And they snapped on. He went to the command chair and started powering up the systems. The crew came in behind him. Each of his advisors took up positions in the "cradle" and began configuring the systems. The remainder of the crew started working at secondary stations that would increase efficiency. The guests came in last and stood looking rather out of place at the aft of the bridge. 'One, power up the viewscreen.' 'Aye sir.' The advisor replied and switched the wraparound screen on.
The fleet appeared onscreen. It was in disarray. The Covenant ambush had caught them completely unawares. The fleet was trapped in a wide ring of Covenant ships. Along their lateral lines he saw motes of light collecting. They were charging for another blast into the fleet. They needed to do something now. Around ten frigates had been completely gutted or vaporized. One of the cruisers had taken heavy damage and three destroyers were reaching critical. 'Three begin charging MAC guns and I mean right now! Prep missile tubes A1 through A7 and give me a firing solution for the destroyer at two o'clock.' 'Aye sir.' The man responded. His fingers danced across the keyboard. 'Two, give me a fleet-wide channel.' 'Aye sir.' He paused for a moment. 'Done, ready for broadcast sir.' Cole tapped a few keys on his datapad and activated the channel. 'This is admiral Cole to all ships. Fire lateral thrusters at will, get the hell above the ring of Covenant ships and fire!' With that he cut the channel. "Sir, I've got something in the computer nets… They're trying to infiltrate our navigational database!' 'Blocking their connection now…they've traced the source and are overloading our firewall!' 'Purge the database now four.' The admiral ordered as calmly as possible, he knew what they were after… the coordinates of the Inner Colonies. 'Purging now…sir their intrusion software locked me out… reestablishing connection.' The advisors face was white. Cole turned to one of the ensigns 'You, get down to our computer data network and remove the database, I don't care if you have to rip it out with your goddamn hands just do it!' The ensign scrambled to the elevator.
A blast shook the Dominion as the ventral emergency thrusters were activated. The cruiser shot upwards above the ring of ships. 'Switch to undercarriage camera now.' The screen switched to a view below the Dominion. The Covenant ships fired again. Plasma streaked through space and smashed into several more UNSC ships. 'Sir MAC guns are hot and Archer missile tubes loaded, awaiting your signal.' 'Fire, number three.' The cruiser shuddered as the Magnetic Accelerator Cannons fired. A pair of white streaks flew across the screen along with a hundred pin pricks of light. The MAC projectiles smashed into the Covenant's shields which glowed bright silver and then dimmed and faded. The archer missiles impacted along the length of the ship. The shield flared dimly and then went out. Twenty missiles got through and crashed into the hull. Fires sprang up along the metal hull… then dimmed and went out. Admiral Cole looked on with a grim face as the ship rotated and pointed upwards at his cruiser. The lateral pulse lasers began charging again. 'Damnit' he whispered under his breath. 'Three, charge the MAC guns again, load tubes B1 through B7. 'Aye sir.' 'one, the second they release those plasma bolts accelerate as fast as you can towards them.' 'Sir?' 'Do it!' 'Yes sir!' Several other ships blasted upwards out of the ring and fired. Three MAC shots crashed into one of the alien carriers. The shields were snuffed out. Hundreds of missiles impacted across the hull along with another MAC round. The round punctured the hull in the center and carved straight through the top decks. The Archer missiles entered into the gap moments later and detonated. Explosions blasted out of either end of the ship before splitting the entire craft along the center. The two shorn halves drifted lifelessly apart still flaming.
'Two, reopen the fleet-wide channel.' 'Aye sir…channel open.' 'This is Admiral Cole to all ships once you are above the Covenant split into two groups and drop around behind them.' He cut the channel. 'Sir, plasma away, accelerating now!' number one shouted. 'Number three rotate missile pods to track oncoming plasma and fire on my mark.' 'Aye sir.' He turned and stared straight at the oncoming plasma, concentrating…'Fire topside thrusters now!' The cruiser shook violently as it ducked under the oncoming plasma. 'Mark, fire missiles now!' The missiles sped at the plasma, which angled back around towards cruiser. The two projectiles crashed together and detonated sparking through space. The plasma had been unable to veer away from the oncoming missiles. The Dominion continued on a collision course for the Covenant destroyer. 'Fire MAC guns now!' The admiral barked. 'Aye sir… MAC projectiles away!' A thumping sound resounded as the guns fired. The MAC shots smashed across the fore of the ship, one actually bouncing once across the hull before going in through the top at an angle…and exiting through the exhaust ports. The other shot went straight through from stem to stern. The ship listed crazily as fires appeared unchecked across its hull. 'Course correction one one eight point four declination now!' The cruiser veered up and away from the wrecked vessel. 'Come about at point zero zero five and reduce speed to thirty percent.' 'Aye sir.' The advisor replied tersely. Apparently the last maneuver had left him a little high strung. 'Sir, the nav database has been purged.' number four said and slumped in his chair. While the admiral had been fighting the ensign had managed to tear out the nav database. 'Switch to fore camera now.' 'Aye sir.' The viewscreen switched to a view of the fleet. They had managed to get around behind the ring of enemy ships and were creating their own ring. Although already more than a third of the fleet had been either destroyed or seriously damaged. The hulks of the UNSC ships drifted across the battle area. The admiral said a silent prayer of thanks to the brave crewmen who had died fighting. This war wasn't worth its cost…
1020 Hours, September 18, 2531 (military calendar) /
UNSC destroyer Orion, Wulpan sector, Harvest star system
Ninety seven thousand kilometers from Harvest
The viewscreen on the Orion flickered, once. Then slowly the camera came into focus as the static dissipated. Commander Quincy stood by his chair. A bandage was wrapped tightly around his head, a large bloody spot showed through the white cloth over his left eye. 'Sir, viewscreen operational.' One of the engineers announced. The scene outside was horrific. Burning hulks of UNSC ships surrounded the Orion. They could just see the remaining UNSC warships moving away to surround the Covenant craft. Most of the crew just stared open mouthed at the scene of destruction. Apparently they had been taken for just another destroyed hulk. Or so they thought…'Sir, sensors are back online and… Jesus Christ! Sir, Covenant frigate inbound at three o'clock!' Quincy spun around to face lieutenant Wellard. 'Onscreen lieutenant.' He ordered a little shakily. The viewscreen switched to the starboard camera. The sharp angular Covenant ship plowing through the wreckage towards them. A hatch opened on the side of the ship and several smaller craft rocketed out. They turned and started heading towards the Orion. 'Sir, dropships inbound…they're going to board us!' One of the ships reached the Orion's starboard docking bay and latched on. 'Sir, they're cutting through the outer docking hatch!' 'Lieutenant, sound general quarters and evacuate that docking bay then seal it off. 'Aye sir.' An alarm klaxon blared through the ship. 'Get every able bodied crewman to the weapons locker and start distributing weapons, position barricades in the halls and seal all compartments after that.' 'Aye sir.' The emergency response team dropped their tools and dashed for the lift. 'Sir, I count twenty drop ships.' The AI reported. 'Sendai, what is our weapon status?' 'Sir MAC guns within operable parameters, 50mm cannons at 100% ammunition, Archer missile pods A1 to A3 and B5 through E7 operational, Shiva warheads in launch tubes. 'Begin point defense against those incoming ships.' 'Aye sir.' The screen flashed as the cannons rotated and began firing. Thousands of rounds pinged off the dropship's hulls. 'Lieutenant Raker prep Archer missile pods A1 to A3 and target the dropships.' 'Aye sir…tubes loaded and prepped.' 'Fire at will lieutenant.' 'Archer missiles away.' The missiles streaked away from the Orion and tracked the last of the incoming ships. They impacted and detonated. Five of the dropships flared and then began disintegrate as the pressure struggled to equalize. 'Sir, the dropships have cut through the outer doors and are beginning to burn through the inner airlock doors.' 'Lieutenant Raker, begin charging MAC capacitors and prep the remaining missiles.' 'Aye sir.' 'Give me a firing solution on the Covenant frigate.' 'Aye sir, capacitors at fifty percent charge and increasing.' The Covenant ship just floated there, no weapons charging, nothing. 'Sir, Covenant have breached the inner airlock doors and are in the bay!' reported Wellard. 'MAC guns are hot sir, Archer missiles ready to fire.' 'Fire.' Commander Quincy said. 'MAC projectiles away, Archer missiles following.' It was probably the luckiest shot in all of UNSC's naval history. As the projectiles streaked forward the Covenant frigate dropped its shields to deploy another set of dropships. The rounds went straight into the open bay doors and clean out the other side. The Archer missiles followed suit and detonated inside the docking bay. The ship spun in space and vented atmosphere. As the gutted craft lost control the pilot attempted to stabilize by firing the maneuvering thrusters. Instead, when he did so the ship crashed into the burning hulk of the UNSC frigate Powell. The superstructures of the two craft fused together in the intense heat, which cooled moments later. The disabled Covenant vessel along with the frigate Powell floated silently off. Raker stared open-mouthed at the wrecked Covenant vessel as it spun away. 'There isn't anything else we can do up here, get down to the weapons locker everyone and man the barricades.' 'This isn't over yet…'
Wulpan sector, Harvest star system,
Fleet entry vector
Harvest hung in space like a marble, its glassy surface long since cooled. It was now just a barren cracked rock. A hundred thousand kilometers away, space distorted and shifted. Ships began appearing at random intervals around this section of space. Destroyers, frigates, carriers, and cruisers emerged from slipstream space and quickly regrouped. A series of pings sounded across the COM. The signal the begin the attack. The seven groups accelerated towards Harvest. Then the COM channels became a flurry of crossed transmissions. The Covanent fleet wasn't there. On the Orion commander Quincy rapped out commands. 'Lieutenant Allison, get me a COM channel to the Dominion on the double!' 'Sir, the COM channels are all packed tight nothing is getting in or out.' The lieutenant reported as calmly as she could manage. 'Sir, broadband transmission coming from the Dominion, its overriding the normal channels and being broadcast over private channels to each ship individually.' 'Onscreen lieutenant.' Admiral Cole's face appeared on the main viewscreen. 'This is Admiral Cole to all ships in the fleet, cease transmissions, I repeat cease transmissions you are clogging the channels and orders are not getting through.' 'I want the fleet to regroup and proceed into orbit around Harvest, Cole out.' The transmission cut out and the screen reverted to its view of the planet. 'Lieutenant Foreman, cut engine power to fifty and group with the fleet.' 'Aye sir.' Where the hell were they?. The fleet grouped up and proceeded towards Harvest. Then motes of light appeared at the fore of the fleet. Space shimmered and moved. The stars and Harvest were blocked from view. A Covanent ship appeared not one hundred kilometers in front of the lead ship. Then to it's sides space was again distorted and two more Covanent ships appeared. Then behind and to the left and right. It was an ambush! 'Full halt now!' Commander Quincy shouted as the Covanent ships appeared. The Orion ground to a halt as Lieutenant Foreman activated the emergeny thrusters on the prow of the destroyer. Commander Quincy was thrown from his chair and slammed into the metal rail in front of him. Collision warnings blared across all the ships in the fleet as one by one they came to a stop, some nearly crashing as the ship in front of them stopped. The destroyer Slalom came to a halt a little too late. The massive craft crashed into the rear of the frigate Powell. The vessels collided with devestating force. The heavier warship clipped the engine baffles of the frigate. Metal screeched and bent as the tension became to much. The entire thruster housing along with a quarter of the ship's rear was torn away from the rest on the vessel. The rear section of Powell scraped across the nose of the Slalom and tumbled off the side. On the Dominion the entire war room shook violently as thousands of tons of titanium A battleplate, travelling at hundreds of kilometers a second suddenly stopped. Machienery toppled and crashed to the deck as crewmen were thrown across the room. An ensign screamed as his station suddenly broke loose of the wall and crushed him. Admiral Cole was hurled into one of his advisors who tired to catch him as both of them fell to the deck. The admiral rolled off the man and tried to stand.
Nearly every other ship in to fleet collided scraped and bumped off each other. Thrusters were fired in an attempt to slow the ships which merely added to the chaos. The Covanent ships wasted not a second of the ensueing turmoil. The pulse lasers across the hulls of the ships glowed as they built up a charge. The combined brightness of all the weaponry overloaded sensors and blacked out several screens. The Covanent ships fired as one. Bolts of plasma streaked through space and impacted with the UNSC vessels. Battleplate boiled away as the superheated charges collided along the hulls of seven frigates, two destroyers and the cruiser Epsilon. Angry patches of red appeared around the damaged sections as several of the ships vented atmosphere. The frigate Kraken took a hit to its reactor. The plasma burned through the hull and touched off the fusion core. The ship blossomed into fire as explosions ripped along the length and tore through the hull from the inside outwards. The silent force blasted out the rear of the main thrusters and melted the exhaust ports shut which cooled instantly as the atmosphere vented and the fires dimmed. The burning hulk floated dead in space.
Commander Quincy opened his eyes slowly. His vison was blurred and spots flashed across his sight. He reached up to his forehead. It felt warm and moist. He drew his hand back and stared at the blood covering his fingers. He tried to rise but slipped back. He heard shouting, all around him. The noise pounded through his head. It ached so much… Someone appeared above looking down at him. 'Hold on sir this may sting a bit.' He felt a pinch at his shoulder and then something flowed into his veins. His head stopped pounding and his blood cooled. His heart rate slowed and his vision began to swim and then clear. Lieutenant Wesley kneeled over him holding and emptied syringe. His entire right pantleg was drenched in his own blood and he was shaking. He offered a trembling hand to the commander who took it gratefully. Commander Quincy struggled up, he reached out and grabbed the railing. Peering around him he took in the state of the bridge. Monitors and stations were gutted, cracked and damaged. Some were sparked out and some were on fire. Below the platform in the "brain cradle" his other three bridge officers were still at their posts, although they were injured and working frenziedly. Other crewmen were around the bridge frantically trying to put out fires and repair equipment. The entire bridge was bathed in a harsh red light. The viewscreen was a mess of static. 'D-d-damage report.' The commander said shakily. Wesley looked around hopelessly and turned to face him. 'Sir, we took a hit to the bridge from a plasma bolt.' The lieutenant pointed upwards. The entire top of the birdge was covered with the emergency hatch. 'Navigation is out, decks eight through fifteen have been burned through, Archer missile pods A4 through B3 are inoperable, reactor coolant pipes have been damaged, and the engines are offline.' The commander stared back at him. 'What's going on… what is happening outside, the battle… who ordered the crew to… The commander trailed off. 'Sendai organized the emergency response, she is in command at the moment, as for the battle… we have no way of knowing, sensors are offline we're basically dead in space in the middle of a battle sir, we could have another plasma bolt headed straight for us and not know it until we were hit.' The lieutenant just stood there staring, his eyes seemed to lose focus as he spoke up again, 'sir, are we going to die?' The question was so innocuous and simple. Yet it felt so forebodingly dooming. 'I don't know.' Was all the commander could reply.
On the Dominion it was a different story however. Admiral Cole grabbed the edge of the tactical display and pulled himself up. He was unhurt. The advisor who had tried to catch him stood up as well. They looked around at the damage. Most of the crew were injured some minorly some seriously. The admiral didn't waste another moment. He strode over to the wall and hit the alarm. The emergency response teams would arrive within moments. 'Everyone, I want all essential personnel to the main bridge on the double.' With that the admiral grabbed his case and cap and dashed out of the war room. Moments later the crew poured out behind him. They passed the ships doctors, emergency workers, and engineers who passed them in the corridor. The admiral took the lift up to the bridge and entered. The bridge was darkened and devoid of life. The entire cruiser could be commanded from the war room so no personnel were needed on the bridge. The admiral called out, 'lights.' And they snapped on. He went to the command chair and started powering up the systems. The crew came in behind him. Each of his advisors took up positions in the "cradle" and began configuring the systems. The remainder of the crew started working at secondary stations that would increase efficiency. The guests came in last and stood looking rather out of place at the aft of the bridge. 'One, power up the viewscreen.' 'Aye sir.' The advisor replied and switched the wraparound screen on.
The fleet appeared onscreen. It was in disarray. The Covenant ambush had caught them completely unawares. The fleet was trapped in a wide ring of Covenant ships. Along their lateral lines he saw motes of light collecting. They were charging for another blast into the fleet. They needed to do something now. Around ten frigates had been completely gutted or vaporized. One of the cruisers had taken heavy damage and three destroyers were reaching critical. 'Three begin charging MAC guns and I mean right now! Prep missile tubes A1 through A7 and give me a firing solution for the destroyer at two o'clock.' 'Aye sir.' The man responded. His fingers danced across the keyboard. 'Two, give me a fleet-wide channel.' 'Aye sir.' He paused for a moment. 'Done, ready for broadcast sir.' Cole tapped a few keys on his datapad and activated the channel. 'This is admiral Cole to all ships. Fire lateral thrusters at will, get the hell above the ring of Covenant ships and fire!' With that he cut the channel. "Sir, I've got something in the computer nets… They're trying to infiltrate our navigational database!' 'Blocking their connection now…they've traced the source and are overloading our firewall!' 'Purge the database now four.' The admiral ordered as calmly as possible, he knew what they were after… the coordinates of the Inner Colonies. 'Purging now…sir their intrusion software locked me out… reestablishing connection.' The advisors face was white. Cole turned to one of the ensigns 'You, get down to our computer data network and remove the database, I don't care if you have to rip it out with your goddamn hands just do it!' The ensign scrambled to the elevator.
A blast shook the Dominion as the ventral emergency thrusters were activated. The cruiser shot upwards above the ring of ships. 'Switch to undercarriage camera now.' The screen switched to a view below the Dominion. The Covenant ships fired again. Plasma streaked through space and smashed into several more UNSC ships. 'Sir MAC guns are hot and Archer missile tubes loaded, awaiting your signal.' 'Fire, number three.' The cruiser shuddered as the Magnetic Accelerator Cannons fired. A pair of white streaks flew across the screen along with a hundred pin pricks of light. The MAC projectiles smashed into the Covenant's shields which glowed bright silver and then dimmed and faded. The archer missiles impacted along the length of the ship. The shield flared dimly and then went out. Twenty missiles got through and crashed into the hull. Fires sprang up along the metal hull… then dimmed and went out. Admiral Cole looked on with a grim face as the ship rotated and pointed upwards at his cruiser. The lateral pulse lasers began charging again. 'Damnit' he whispered under his breath. 'Three, charge the MAC guns again, load tubes B1 through B7. 'Aye sir.' 'one, the second they release those plasma bolts accelerate as fast as you can towards them.' 'Sir?' 'Do it!' 'Yes sir!' Several other ships blasted upwards out of the ring and fired. Three MAC shots crashed into one of the alien carriers. The shields were snuffed out. Hundreds of missiles impacted across the hull along with another MAC round. The round punctured the hull in the center and carved straight through the top decks. The Archer missiles entered into the gap moments later and detonated. Explosions blasted out of either end of the ship before splitting the entire craft along the center. The two shorn halves drifted lifelessly apart still flaming.
'Two, reopen the fleet-wide channel.' 'Aye sir…channel open.' 'This is Admiral Cole to all ships once you are above the Covenant split into two groups and drop around behind them.' He cut the channel. 'Sir, plasma away, accelerating now!' number one shouted. 'Number three rotate missile pods to track oncoming plasma and fire on my mark.' 'Aye sir.' He turned and stared straight at the oncoming plasma, concentrating…'Fire topside thrusters now!' The cruiser shook violently as it ducked under the oncoming plasma. 'Mark, fire missiles now!' The missiles sped at the plasma, which angled back around towards cruiser. The two projectiles crashed together and detonated sparking through space. The plasma had been unable to veer away from the oncoming missiles. The Dominion continued on a collision course for the Covenant destroyer. 'Fire MAC guns now!' The admiral barked. 'Aye sir… MAC projectiles away!' A thumping sound resounded as the guns fired. The MAC shots smashed across the fore of the ship, one actually bouncing once across the hull before going in through the top at an angle…and exiting through the exhaust ports. The other shot went straight through from stem to stern. The ship listed crazily as fires appeared unchecked across its hull. 'Course correction one one eight point four declination now!' The cruiser veered up and away from the wrecked vessel. 'Come about at point zero zero five and reduce speed to thirty percent.' 'Aye sir.' The advisor replied tersely. Apparently the last maneuver had left him a little high strung. 'Sir, the nav database has been purged.' number four said and slumped in his chair. While the admiral had been fighting the ensign had managed to tear out the nav database. 'Switch to fore camera now.' 'Aye sir.' The viewscreen switched to a view of the fleet. They had managed to get around behind the ring of enemy ships and were creating their own ring. Although already more than a third of the fleet had been either destroyed or seriously damaged. The hulks of the UNSC ships drifted across the battle area. The admiral said a silent prayer of thanks to the brave crewmen who had died fighting. This war wasn't worth its cost…
1020 Hours, September 18, 2531 (military calendar) /
UNSC destroyer Orion, Wulpan sector, Harvest star system
Ninety seven thousand kilometers from Harvest
The viewscreen on the Orion flickered, once. Then slowly the camera came into focus as the static dissipated. Commander Quincy stood by his chair. A bandage was wrapped tightly around his head, a large bloody spot showed through the white cloth over his left eye. 'Sir, viewscreen operational.' One of the engineers announced. The scene outside was horrific. Burning hulks of UNSC ships surrounded the Orion. They could just see the remaining UNSC warships moving away to surround the Covenant craft. Most of the crew just stared open mouthed at the scene of destruction. Apparently they had been taken for just another destroyed hulk. Or so they thought…'Sir, sensors are back online and… Jesus Christ! Sir, Covenant frigate inbound at three o'clock!' Quincy spun around to face lieutenant Wellard. 'Onscreen lieutenant.' He ordered a little shakily. The viewscreen switched to the starboard camera. The sharp angular Covenant ship plowing through the wreckage towards them. A hatch opened on the side of the ship and several smaller craft rocketed out. They turned and started heading towards the Orion. 'Sir, dropships inbound…they're going to board us!' One of the ships reached the Orion's starboard docking bay and latched on. 'Sir, they're cutting through the outer docking hatch!' 'Lieutenant, sound general quarters and evacuate that docking bay then seal it off. 'Aye sir.' An alarm klaxon blared through the ship. 'Get every able bodied crewman to the weapons locker and start distributing weapons, position barricades in the halls and seal all compartments after that.' 'Aye sir.' The emergency response team dropped their tools and dashed for the lift. 'Sir, I count twenty drop ships.' The AI reported. 'Sendai, what is our weapon status?' 'Sir MAC guns within operable parameters, 50mm cannons at 100% ammunition, Archer missile pods A1 to A3 and B5 through E7 operational, Shiva warheads in launch tubes. 'Begin point defense against those incoming ships.' 'Aye sir.' The screen flashed as the cannons rotated and began firing. Thousands of rounds pinged off the dropship's hulls. 'Lieutenant Raker prep Archer missile pods A1 to A3 and target the dropships.' 'Aye sir…tubes loaded and prepped.' 'Fire at will lieutenant.' 'Archer missiles away.' The missiles streaked away from the Orion and tracked the last of the incoming ships. They impacted and detonated. Five of the dropships flared and then began disintegrate as the pressure struggled to equalize. 'Sir, the dropships have cut through the outer doors and are beginning to burn through the inner airlock doors.' 'Lieutenant Raker, begin charging MAC capacitors and prep the remaining missiles.' 'Aye sir.' 'Give me a firing solution on the Covenant frigate.' 'Aye sir, capacitors at fifty percent charge and increasing.' The Covenant ship just floated there, no weapons charging, nothing. 'Sir, Covenant have breached the inner airlock doors and are in the bay!' reported Wellard. 'MAC guns are hot sir, Archer missiles ready to fire.' 'Fire.' Commander Quincy said. 'MAC projectiles away, Archer missiles following.' It was probably the luckiest shot in all of UNSC's naval history. As the projectiles streaked forward the Covenant frigate dropped its shields to deploy another set of dropships. The rounds went straight into the open bay doors and clean out the other side. The Archer missiles followed suit and detonated inside the docking bay. The ship spun in space and vented atmosphere. As the gutted craft lost control the pilot attempted to stabilize by firing the maneuvering thrusters. Instead, when he did so the ship crashed into the burning hulk of the UNSC frigate Powell. The superstructures of the two craft fused together in the intense heat, which cooled moments later. The disabled Covenant vessel along with the frigate Powell floated silently off. Raker stared open-mouthed at the wrecked Covenant vessel as it spun away. 'There isn't anything else we can do up here, get down to the weapons locker everyone and man the barricades.' 'This isn't over yet…'