Disclaimer: So yeah, Microsoft and Bungie own everything related to the Halo universe, and possibly the planet Earth... I guess that covers it

Author's Notes: A friend of mine recently wrote his first fan fic and it inspired me to do the same. Try not to throw up too violently when you read it. Cheers!

The First Encounter

1300 Hours, February 17, 2520

UNSC Frigate Vigilance, security patrol above Harvest colony world

"Boring!" exclaimed Ensign Mark Willis, as he reclined back in his chair at the weapons control station.

"We've been running this patrol route for six months and you still say that every day, get over it already." the ship's captain admonished him. Vigilance was originally designed to patrol shipping corridors for interstellar pirating, her sleek hull and stocky build made her ideal for tight maneuvering and top end speed during pursuits. Vigilance and those like her were so effective in fact, that pirating had halted almost entirely and the shipping patrol had become unnecessary. Vigilance had since been reassigned to the somewhat less glamorous task of ship ID checks and general security around the Harvest colony world.

"You know, maybe we should've let some of those pirates and smugglers go," Willis continued, "then maybe we'd still have a job. Running the lanes in the Epsilon system beat the shit out of sitting here like a damn meter maid."

"How about you stop whining before I get you reassigned to one of those bulk supply freighters we used to play hero for?" Vigilance's captain replied. Lt. Commander Jeanette Sanderson was no happier about having her ship turned into a glorified rent-a-cop security guard than the rest of the bridge crew. Vigilance was her first command and she missed the rush of chasing armed pirate vessels down the narrow Slipstream channels near Reach. "Oh well." she thought to her self, it was still better than being an accountant as her father had adamantly suggested. She smiled to herself at the thought of her father, steaming mad as he learned of his little girl's enrollment in the Naval Academy.

Jeanette's chain of thought was shattered by the blaring of the ship's target acquisition alarms. She hadn't heard those alarms for almost a year, the last time they had locked on a hostile ship. "Status report!" she shouted to her sensors officer.

"We're at combat alert alpha; I have three targets exiting subspace just outside the Harvest security zone. They've adopted an aggressive posture towards us."

"Who are they lieutenant?" Sanderson demanded.

"I...I don't know captain, there not in the database. I've never seen anything like it." Lieutenant Brink responded in his signature Australian accent.

"Ensign Willis, what have you got for me?"

"We're tracking all three of them; the computer has them tagged as one carrier size capital ship and two destroyer class. Possibly non-human, definitely not one of ours, sir."

The three purple hued Covenant warships cruised towards the Harvest security picket in an inverted arrowhead formation. The burnished metal of ships' hulls shimmered and sparkled oddly in the starlight, glinting off the surfaces that almost appeared to be muscled.

"Patch me through to the carrier, ensign."

"Just a moment... You're live, captain."

Captain Sanderson stood from the commander's chair and pulled down her uniform jacket at the bottom, trying to smooth out wrinkles that weren't really there.

"This is the UNSC Vigilance, you are in violation of United Nations airspace. Transmit your identification and form a neutral formation to prepare for inspection." Jeanette waited; the bizarre vessels showed no sign of acknowledgement or compliance. "I repeat, identify yourselves and discontinue hostile maneuverings or we will fire on you." The captain bent over next to Willis, "Load all the forward Archer tubes; I don't think these guys can take a hint."

"Loading, standby."

The elite in command of the Covenant assault carrier depressed a switch on his polished blue battle armor, opening a com channel to the destroyer escorts.

"Proceed"

"Captain," Ensign Willis, nearly shouted "they've fired on us!" The bridge crew watched in shock as a massive, luminescent bolt of green plasma energy arced towards the Vigilance.

"Evasive maneuvers immediately! Lieutenant, get on the horn to Midway and tell them-" The young captain's words were cut short as the plasma warhead slammed into the ship's outer hull with a reverberating crunch. Vigilance pitched forward violently, throwing the bridge crew towards the main view port. Massive gouts of flame spewed from the ship's wound, pushing it out of control and into Harvest's atmosphere.

"Damage report!" shouted Jeanette, picking herself up off of the deck.

"Everything's offline, captain!" Willis replied. "Main drive core, weapons guidance, navigation, it's all gone. We're dead in the water!" The ensign was only partially right. The ship's damaged reactor gushed super heated gas out of the newly created hole in Vigilance's superstructure. The blue-orange flames propelled the dying craft too close to Harvest, and the gravity of a planet Vigilance was sworn to protect pulled it to certain doom.

"Ensign! Are those tubes loaded?"

"They are, but we don't have fire control anymore, I can't target them on the enemy craft. The failsafe system won't let me fire unless we have a clean lock!"

"Ensign, this is an emergency override the goddamn safeties and fire when we swing around on them again, empty as many tubes as possible!"

"Yes, sir!" The stars blurred together as Vigilance pitched over and over, the ship's retro rockets gradually compensating for the hot jet of combusting reactor fuel pouring from the vessel. The heavily damaged frigateslowed, regaining directional control. Willis lined up the bow missile tubes with the enemy and depressed the manual override. The Vigilance's small frame shuddered as fifteen Archer missiles thundered out of the ship's weapons tubes and carried their high explosive warheads toward the enemy craft. Lacking any guidance data or a target lock, seven of the deadly missiles rocketed away into space as the first Covenant destroyer dodged out of the way. The large assault carrier in the center of the formation was not so nimble and could not escape the oncoming salvo. The remaining missiles slammed home on port bow of the cruiser, momentarily hiding the craft from view behind a curtain of hellish flames. The explosion dissipated as the crew of the human ship looked on anxiously. The cruiser was no longer pointed towards them, but had been knocked askew by the impact. The immediate vicinity of the explosions sported some minor burn damage but was otherwise untouched. Ever so slowly, a blue field of energy crept back over the damaged area and closed up the gap before becoming invisible again. The cruiser began turning back towards its prey.

"Son of a bitch." Willis said to no one in particular. "They've got some sort of energy shield surrounding the hull."

"Do we have ship-to-ship communications?" Jeanette asked, oddly detached from the horror staring them down.

"Yes, but for how long I can't say, captain. Only short range."

"Put me on."

1310 Hours, February 17, 2520

UNSC Heavy Cruiser Midway, Vega system defense force

"Sir," said Marcus LaGrasse, Midway's com officer "we're receiving a burst emergency broadcast from the Vigilance. Sounds like she's in real trouble. Give me a sec to patch it through." The main screen snapped on. It showed a picture of horror that every starship captain could attest to having nightmares of. Captain Jeanette Sanderson stood, clutching the side of her battered command chair. Her normally fresh pressed uniform was rumpled and spotted with blood from a fresh cut on her forehead. The rest of the crew was similarly disheveled, busy putting out fires and trying in vain to regain control of their crippled vessel.

"Mayday, mayday, mayday, this is the UNSC Vigilance. We are under attack from alien forces. Our ship is crippled and we require immediate assistance from any armed vessels in the vicinity. Our weapons have little effect on their craft, we can't stall them very long. If you receive this message, rebroadcast it to Reach ASAP, I repeat Harvest is under attack by overwhelming enemy forces-"

Behind Jeanette, stars could no longer be seen out the side view port, and were replaced by a rapidly accelerating bolt of plasma fire. The impact of the second plasma attack cut through both auxiliary batteries and sent Vigilance barreling into the upper atmosphere of Harvest. The message ended abruptly, the view screen turning back to a camera view of space from Midway's nose.

"Major Biggs, where is Vigilance's last known location?" asked David Anderson, Midway's officious veteran commander.

"They're running a security checkpoint on the other side of the planet, sir"

"I want us there five minutes ago, move it!"

The Midway's massive form shifted and rotated 180 degrees. Harvest filled half of the view screen as the ship accelerated at 125% reactor power.

1317 Hours, February 17, 2520

UNSC Frigate Vigilance

1,500 miles from Midway's position, the stresses of reentry that Vigilance was never designed for overburdened her titanium plate armor and inertia compensators. The building sized ship compacted slightly and detonated in a ball of orange and red flame, raining chunks of shrapnel and unspent Archer missiles into the sea below. Moments later, the few life pods that had managed to launch splashed down nearby and bobbed on the surface like so many champagne corks. Captain Sanderson looked woefully out the charred windscreen of the number two life pod at the burning components of her once proud ship, raining down on the pristine blue water. A pang of guilt washed over her, she had failed her crew and she had failed the people of Harvest. Surely there was something she could have done to prevent this, right? She hung her head and shed a few silent tears.

1325 Hours, February 17, 2520

UNSC Heavy Cruiser Midway

"Sweet Jesus..." Muttered Captain Anderson. Midway's port view cam replayed the last few minutes of the Vigilance's violent death from different angles and magnifications. "Survivors?"

"I'm reading three life pods on the ocean surface, only two show life signs. The computer estimates fifteen survivors, fifty nine went down with the ship, ten more were killed on impact in the third life pod." The mood on Midway's command deck was grim. No one killed UNSC personnel and walked away from it.

Anderson turned towards his weapons officer. Petty Officer First Class Noel Logan knew by the look in her captain's steel gray eyes what he wanted. David Anderson reached down into the neck of his uniform coat and inside his shirt, coming up with his dog tags and a bizarrely shaped key on the same chain. He tossed the chain to Noel who caught it and then pulled her own key out of her Navy issue blouse. Both keys were inserted into the fire command and control panel Logan was assigned to.

"Hold on to your butts." she said to herself as she rotated both of the keys towards each other. There was an audible "clack" inside the panel and the ship was brought from peacetime mode into full war readiness, officially beginning the gruesome conflict between humanity and its would-be annihilators, the Covenant. The ship's bridge lights dimmed slightly as did all the ship's external running lights. Archer missiles were pulled from the ship's magazine and loaded into their tubes. The ship's superstructure resonated as the massive capacitors for Midway's Magnetic Acceleration Cannon began charging. The final stages of combat readiness were complete as general quarters were sounded and the safeties on both Shiva tactical nuclear warheads were removed.

"Logan." Captain Anderson said in a matter of fact way.

"Sir?" She replied. Noel had known several of Vigilance's crew members, and as the weapons officer on Midway she would have the privilege of personally wasting every one of the bastards who murdered them.

"Bring us to starboard, I want as many tubes brought to bear on the enemy craft as possible, go for maximum target saturation... You may fire when ready." Noel's brow furrowed as she slid her index finger along the center of the fire control panel, lighting off every weapons tube pointed remotely near the enemy ship. The Midway was obscured by a wall of burning propellant as over a hundred rocket propelled high explosive warheads raced towards the intruders in the Harvest system. Spurred on by their blind sense of honor and a harsh command from the Captain of the assault carrier, both destroyers maneuvered in front of the carrier, absorbing more than fifty missiles and rockets a piece. The light Covenant craft had significantly less substantial shielding than the carrier and could not withstand the onslaught. The first destroyer's hull failed almost immediately, breaking apart and exploding spectacularly, showering the other two ships with burning debris. The second ship sustained more critical hits but managed to remain in a single piece. This was of little consolation to the crew of sixty as the life support system was snuffed out by an HE warhead and the ship explosively decompressed through a gash in the armor plating.

"Two confirmed kills, sir. Shall I engage the carrier?"

"You figure their bridge is somewhere along the centerline of the superstructure?" Anderson asked, almost mischievously.

"Yes, sir. The computer calculates it as a 95% probability based on all known ship designs." Logan replied. Everyone on the command deck knew what he was thinking, and approved it as fitting retribution for their fallen comrades.

"Put a MAC round right in the captain's teeth, if you would."

"Standby for MAC deployment, ten seconds and counting." The Midway's Magnetic Acceleration Cannon was a weapon of awesome proportions and destructive capability. The cannon began in Midway's aft and ran the length of the ship along its center axis, terminating at a gaping muzzle in the ship's nose. The ship vibrated once again as the MAC system hummed to life and the capacitors were topped off. A negatively charged slug roughly the proportions of a passenger bus was introduced into the system. The seemingly innocuous "MAC READY: PUSH TO DISCHARGE" command was displayed on Noel's console as the countdown terminated.

"Three...two...one. The MAC is ready, captain."

"Do it." Noel Logan flipped back the Plexiglas cover over the green firing button on her console and punched it down with her thumb. Midway shuddered as the capacitors flooded the cannon's barrel with negative charge, propelling the three ton tungsten alloy slug clear of the ship in a split second. It accelerated towards the enemy carrier at near light speed, leaving blurring ripples in the space it tore through like a rock skipping across a pond. The MAC round was deadly accurate, blasting away the carrier's shields and lancing through the armored hull. The commander of the alien carrier caught a momentary glimpse of the hypersonic slug as it approached. A heart beat later he was obliterated along with his bridge and everything directly behind it as the MAC round plowed through the ship's internals like a locomotive through a plywood barrier. The crew of Midway watched with satisfaction as the cannon round exited explosively from the back of the carrier. The Covenant ship's purple and green running lights flickered and died along with its engines, causing it to drift away aimlessly at an odd angle.

"Enemy ship disabled, sir. All hostiles eliminated, we have space superiority."

"Excellent work everyone. Marcus, find a secure channel and secure an uplink to Reach command. They need to hear about this ASAP."

"Right away, captain." Marcus frowned with concentration as he worked the controls.

"What's taking so long, corporal?"

"This can't be right, sir. All of our communications are down, what the hell is going on? Noel, can you run a systems check on our transmitter/receiver array?"

"That won't be necessary, petty officer," The captain interrupted. "We're being jammed"

"By what, sir?"

"By that." Captain Anderson took a few steps towards the main viewer and pointed to an obscure patch of space. As the crew watched curiously, the stars seemed to shift and bend slightly in one particular area. "Fire where I just pointed, petty officer Logan." Noel retargeted the deformed patch of blank space and fired a second MAC round into it. To everyone but the captain's surprise, the round struck a solid object, creating an electrical storm that revealed another destroyer when it subsided. The slug had punched clean through the small craft and taken the main drive core with it.

"Excellent!" exclaimed a junior crew member near the rear of the command deck. The victory was short lived as the targeting sensors lit up like the fourth of July. An armada of Covenant warships began shutting down their active camouflage generators and revealing themselves to the shocked crew members. Captain Anderson didn't have time to mutter a curse under his breath as the Midway was split apart lengthwise by a hail of plasma torpedoes. The ship's internal structuring fizzled and popped as it was vaporized under the barrage of raw energy. The three meter thick titanium vault which held the Shiva warheads was also obliterated, detonating both of the armed weapons. Shock waves from the twenty kiloton bombs bounced harmlessly off the circling Covenant vessels. One cruiser that had strayed too close to strike the Midway it's deathblow was washed over by a prodigious wave of radiation. The crew members crumpled and died on the deck of their ship as their bodies were bombarded by the gamma particles that penetrated their shields.

The command crew of the Vigilance watched the scene in unblinking disbelief from the planet surface. The fiery destruction of the Midway and the two atomic explosions came in rapid succession, their meaning to the downed crew unmistakable. It was close to midnight on this side of Harvest and the explosions just outside of the atmosphere were vibrant and spectacular in the clear night sky.