Chapter 9: The Battle for Earth
UNSC high command was in a state close to catatonic shock...no...wait...it was catatonic shock. Over two thousand Hegemony vessels, backed up by an eleven million strong invasion force? They were dead, and unfortunately they knew it. How could they possibly defeat a Covenant fleet and army that large?
Coalition forces had been pouring into Earth's ground defenses like mad, Wookiee infantry, Colonial Marines, Saurian Shock Troops, everything available was being pushed to Earth to buy time. Troops and troop ships could trickle in faster than battle fleets apparently. High command had already written off the space battle. All they could hope to do was hold out for a few hours at max. The Covenant simply would have too many ships to take on right now. The motley collection of vessels arrayed against them would be swept aside like so many bugs.
The forces that had been mustered to defend earth would have to hold out for three days before the vanguard of the Coalition fleets would arrive. But three days could mean the battle would long since been lost... But the UNSC couldn't do anything; all they could hope for was a miracle.
Something that was going to stop the Covenant armada.
Unfortunately they weren't going to get one.
December 14th 2552, 1654 Hours, Asguard O'Neill class Battleship Fanfir, High Earth Orbit
Supreme Commander Thor sat atop his command chair. His large black eyes surveying the forces arrayed at his command, and then shifted to the void of space before him. He was about to commence one of the most difficult and undoubtedly the largest engagement he had ever – or would ever – command. It was a nerve-wracking experience, despite the Asguard commander's tactical skill and prowess...
To divert his haggard mind he took stock of the ships at his command and the power that he wielded against the Covenant juggernaut that was rapidly approaching. His vessels were by far the most formidable craft in the fleet; the Twenty 'O'Neill' class Battleships were the most technologically advanced vessels at his command.
Making up a close second to this formidable line were the eighteen ships of the Human Alliance. They were perhaps as advanced technologically as the Asguard, their crews were hardened veterans of long campaigns in their home galaxy, and their ships were designed to be pure combat vessels, this probably made them the strongest ships in the fleet. A single Remington Class Frigate boasted a hellish volume of firepower.
Perhaps they were stronger than the Asguard vessels themselves...
The Federation and the Klingons fielded the third strongest set ships. The Klingon vessels were designed as warships with little in mind beyond combat and battle, their crews were the Elite of the Imperial Klingon Navy and were ready to seek glory in battle. The Federation vessels were not pure warships. Despite the Borg, the Cardasians and the Dominon, much of the Federation fleet was geared towards exploration and research. The most combat heavy vessels were the Akira and Defiant class vessels, but the Sovereign class vessels could take a tremendous beating and dish out the same.
The weakest vessels he had were the UNSC and Colonial Marine warships. The UNSC vessels had no shielding, poor maneuverability and practically no armor. The Colonial Marine vessels were even weaker than that. They did not even carry the massive Rail Gun, or 'MAC gun' that the UNSC ships carried.
Thor realized the extremely weak position that he had. He could not run, nor could he fight a stand up battle. But if he fought a stand up battle, the most likely outcome was the complete and total annihilation of the forces he commanded. But if he ran, the ground troops on the planet and over eight billion sentient beings would be murdered.
He was at an impasse.
With a few motions on his control board he opened a comm frequency to every vessel in the ragtag Coalition forces, then mustered up enough spirit to address the assembled vessels and their crews.
"This is Supreme Commander Thor of the Asguard fleet, acting commander of the Coalition fleet forces at the UNSC Homeworld..." Thor began tentatively...he had never been an orator amongst his people. He was a military commander, not a speaker and those that fought with him did so for their people and the existence of other species, they needed no encouragement.
But now...now they were facing insurmountable odds that were larger than he could have thought possible. It would have been too much for weaker races to bear and they needed some sort of encouragement, even if it was just a grim reminder of their own mortality.
Thor drew another breath and began.
"We are not of similar background, we are not of the same species or even of the same galaxy. We come from Earth, or Sol, or Qo'noS, or Halla, or a hundred other worlds and systems. We are not of like mind or like culture; we are not of similar upbringing or mindset. All our peoples have survived different catastrophes and trials each shaping us differently from the rest."
"If it had not been for this war or the people on the world beneath us...we would never have even gleaned the wild idea that the other existed. Our races would have continued with our own affairs and thought nothing of others."
"But something has happened. We all face a common foe now. We all are together, here and now, our peoples are united against the same threat. As we sit here, our forces arrayed against the same enemy, our weapons all held firm against the same opponent...we are closer now than we could have ever been had our peoples met under different conditions."
"Now...now we shall enter into a battle against those which we have fought separately, those which we have struggled against for so long on our own...now we fight them together."
"Our pasts are different, for each and every one of our peoples, but now our present and futures are united as one. Now we shall be stronger together than we could ever be on our own. Now we shall fight against those that are worse than any enemy we have ever met in combat before."
"May we see death or life...victory, or defeat, we shall carry out an act which shall lead to the destruction of the Covenant and all their servants and slaves. After this day, we shall unite."
Thor finished his speech to silence amongst the other Asguard on the bridge. Their focus lapsed from their stations, their eyes affixed to their Commander. Slowly, they nodded in grim agreement with Thor's words. It was true, they were different from those in a Klingon Fek'Lhr Heavy Cruiser, or those in the cockpits of Human Alliance SSF-20 Space Superiority Fighters.
But after this battle, they truly would be united.
Another message came across the com; it's origin from the Klingon Flagship.
"You speak eloquently Thor, and you speak truthfully. After this battle, we shall be fellow warriors, and we shall share the honor of this battle!" The Klingon commanding Admiral said, his voice filled with bloodlust and pride, in the background battle cries could be heard.
It was an ironic contrast to Thor's flat tone and long speech, and the solemn responses of his crewmen. But the fact that both extremes were working together was something tremendous.
"Sensors report incoming vessels." The Sensor operator reported. The main screen shifted and showed the incoming tracts of hostile craft.
Two thousand strong....
The Covenant Armada was coming....
"All ships, ready for combat." Thor ordered.
"Today is a good day to die..." The Klingon admiral said.
"But the day is not yet over." Thor finished.
Throughout the fleet vessels prepared for full combat. Bulkheads and energy shields sealed off compartments and sectors in ships. Weapons emplacements charged their energy batteries, primed warheads and loaded shells. Fighter craft readied and launched into space. Marines and crewmen rushed to their stations.
The Coalition fleet was ready for battle. It was arrayed in some semblance of a wall. The Asguard, Human Alliance, Federation and Klingon ships in the center of the line arrayed against the incoming Covenant vessels, the UNSC and Colonial Marine warships located near the poles of the planet. The best that the weaker vessels could manage would be to engage the troopships and any stragglers.
The brunt of the combat would rest upon those that could fight and survive.
But they weren't going to last long.
The front vanguard of the Covenant forces was made up of a mixture of Goa'uld motherships, Yuuhzan Vong asteroid vessels, and Yevetha ships. Behind them were several Covenant vessels, they appeared to be coordinating the other ships. They emerged from transit in unison and in perfect formation before the defenders.
This front vanguard began launching starfighters and moving forward to engage.
1650 Hours Battle Comencement Asguard O'Neill class Battleship Fanfir, Command Center
Thor watched the deployment with a steady eye. He had studied the enemy vessels diligently and knew their weaknesses and their strengths. The Goa'uld had been his nemesis for so long, he cared little for them. The Yuuhzan Vong and the Yevetha were just as bad as the Goa'uld and were apparently much more cunning. Not to mention the different combat and technological styles these races reflected. The Vong used black hole generators in lieu of shields, and the Yevetha preferred projectiles to energy weapons.
But they were further away than they should have been. Normally they could have jumped in much closer than they had come in; right now they were ten minutes out of weapons range.
Odd.
They were launching fighters, and that wasn't as odd. No...that actually made sense.
The Yuuhzan Vong and the Covenant had earned a heavy respect for New Republic Fighters, and perhaps they were worried that there were some stationed here. Thor fought back amusement, the New Republic fighters weren't here yet, but the Human Alliance was...and they were slightly better.
"Order Human Alliance fighters to engage at will." Thor instructed the Human Alliance commanders. They were the only ones who had fighters, but they had a lot of them.
1652 Hours, Human Alliance 'Viper' Class Heavy Carrier 'Olirend', Main Hangar Bay
The Human Alliance had a monopoly on Starfighters in their Home Galaxy. During the first Antaran War, the utility of a small easily hidden vessel that was heavily armed became apparent when planets could mount effective resistance against enemy fleets with a few fighter squadrons. After that the Human Alliance made starfighters the backbone of their fleet assets and their primary offensive weapons.
The standard Human Alliance fighter was the SSF-20 Space Superiority Fighter. It was a vessel that inspired cold dread in the pilots of the Antaran Hegemony and Ithkul Empire. It was shielded, heavily armored and highly maneuverable. It's arsenal was impressive. Wingtip mounted pulse phasor pods, and a pair of prow mounted gattling railguns. 6 Anomic Energy warheads and 20 'Flechette' Nuclear rockets rounded out it's arsenal. These ships were sharks of space.
The SFB-30 was just as tough, and as a Fighter-Bomber, lethal to capital ships. It carried six 'Brillaint' Missiles with Antimatter warheads and forty 'Flechette' mini-Nuke rockets. This fighter could decimate capital ships.
Pilot unit 9-892-F53-A0 climbed into his cockpit. The 'collars' of his humanoid form were adorned with the rank of Commander; he was the leader of his 50-man fighter squadron and overall commander of all fighters aboard the 'Olirend'. The edges of his canopy were adorned with the callsign 'Shining Armor' as his Squadron had been the savior of many a merchant vessel from commerce raiders during the last Antaran-Human Alliance War.
He held a metallic arm out of his unsealed canopy and made a circle in the air. He heard his mishmash of pilots from all over Alliance Space cheer him in response. Whether it was the shouts from Humans, the roars from Saurians or the metallic screeches of his mechanoid brethren, he knew they were ready.
"Okay Javelin squadron, let's give these Covie bastards hell." Shining Armor said to his pilots. A few more scattered cheers were heard across the comms then they died down, these pilots were loose, but they were good...really good. They knew to cut the chatter in combat.
The pilots sat back and waited for the go signal.
"Javelin squadron, Gladius squadron and Hibernia squadron, you have a go for launch. Give 'em hell boys." The flight controller said across the comm. A few more cheers ran across the comms as the pilots launched their fighters into the void.
"Okay pilots, form up with wingmen and prepare for swarm attack. Use your pulse phasers and Railgun ammo; and save your Anomic Warheads and mini- Nukes for their capital ships." 'Shining Armor' ordered. A resounding reply of 'affirmatives' came back over his comm.
"Locked, Cocked and ready to rock boss." One of his younger pilots replied.
The fighters switched into full thrust and leapt towards the opposing single ships, along with the other hundreds of small fighters from the rest of the fleet. The Human Alliance put fighters on nearly every capital ship large enough to cram a 50-fighter squadron on it. That gave the Alliance fleet a distinct advantage.
The sleek, swept wing spacecraft looked like predators in space, their mattle black paint making them nearly impossible to see without weapons flashes to illuminate their hulls. And those would come soon enough.
"This is Gold Flight, moving off to sector eight for right flanking run on their ships..." 'Lumbering Giant' reported. He was splitting his SBF- 30 squadron off into the well-practiced flanking movement against Capital ships. The SFF-20's would attack and eliminate or distract the fighter cover the enemy had, allowing the bombers an unobstructed attack path.
Hostiles always fell for it.
"Affirmative 'Lumbering Giant' good luck and good hunting." 'Shining Armor replied over the comm.
Shining Armor's processing units analyzed both the direct linkup with his ships sensors and his own spectrum equipment. The Fighter's AI reported that they would be entering weapons range in 23 seconds. He compared the combat abilities of the enemy forces and their positioning, speculating to their plan of attack.
The Goa'uld 'Death Gliders' as the primitive vessels were called, were oriented on his left flank. They were slightly ahead of the main formation. The Vong 'Coral Skippers' were making up the center of the forces along with the Covenant 'Sephera' fighters. They were set back in the center of the formation. On the right flank were Yevethan 'D-Type' fighters. These were what concerned Shining Armor the most. If he could believe the reports those fighters were more maneuverable than his SSF- 20's, but not nearly as heavily armed. Apparently they were hoping to envelop the Human Alliance fighter wings.
And that wasn't going to happen.
"Gladius Squadron, move and engage the 'Death Gliders', Hibernia Squadron, engage the 'D-Types'. Javelin, you're right down the middle with me." Shining armor ordered, the slight course corrections were made and the two opposing fighter swarms slammed into each other.
Any hope for small, tactical advantages was lost as the hostile masses of fighter craft slammed into one another and began what was the simplest form of struggle in any galaxy, survival.
The horde of starfighters twisted in elegant dances of death. Streams of projectiles and directed energy blasts tore through the void. Explosions filled the vast expanse of space as ships were simply vaporized in the copious amounts of firepower being tossed about.
Shining Armor cracked apart a Vong fighter with a shower of Pulse Phasor blasts, overwhelming it's defensive systems. He spun his fighter on its axis, stopping short of a barrage of Death glider fire and ripped apart a Yevethan D-Type. There was little anyone could do to make sense of this melee. He made a hard bank left, a manuver that would have ripped apart an organic pilot, and dodged the fire of a quartet of Vong craft. Shining Armor jinked and weaved, avoiding more of the enemy fire, then steered this lethal caravan through a throng of Death Gliders. He deftly avoided collisions, but his pursers weren't as lucky.
The robot spun his fighter and dove back into the fray, vaporizing three D- Types in short order with Pulse Phasor fire. A burst of plasma cannon fire from a Sephera fighter flared against his shields. Shining Armor nose- dived and avoided the rest of the barrage. The elite followed the dive and stayed right on the robot pilot's tail, sending lances of plasma fire behind him.
Shining armor pulled up...hard. The SSF-20 fighter went straight up, the G forces from the sudden change of direction nearly overwhelming his intertial damper systems. Shining Armor could feel the strain on both his body and his ship as the loop continued.
The Covenant pilot wasn't so lucky, while his ship could do a manuver like that, the Elite behind the controls couldn't. After the first turn, the shock of the loop snapped his neck like a twig. The Sephera fighter, now out of control, slammed into a Death Glider and the pair exploded.
"This is Lumbering Giant, we are beginning the attack run on the enemy starships now." Shining Armor heard over his comm frequency. He responded with a wordless battle cry as his fire incinerated another hostile.
1700 Hours, Human Alliance SBF-30 Fighter Bomber, Gold Squadron
"This is Lumbering Giant, we are beginning the attack run on the enemy starships now." Grillmar said over his comm frequency before orienting his Fighter Bomber at the massive shapes before him.
The massive Saurian was crammed into the cockpit of his craft. The SBF-30 Fighter Bomber was a lumbering giant, half again as large as an SSF- 20 it boasted a devastating armament. Instead of Pulse Phasors and Railguns, it had a triple barreled gattling Disruptor Cannon on each wingtip, they were much more powerful than interceptor weapons. The normally slow recycle time of the weapons jumped up significantly from it's rotating mounts. In addition to the powerful energy weapons it had forty nuclear rockets and six 'Brilliant' antimatter missiles. These spacecraft could decimate a capital ship.
"Entering optimal attack range." Grillmar's second seat said. The Human was very good at her job, and had managed to spoof every enemy sensor system with the SBF-30's Electronic Countermeasures. Nothing knew they were coming.
"Affirmative." Lumbering Giant grumbled as he surveyed the HUD in front of him. The threat indicator marked his target as 'Goa'uld Mothership', and it was emblazoned in red marking it as a threat.
The Saurian flipped his fire selection system to a 'Brilliant' missile and locked it on the target. The human weapons officer behind him began plotting targets on the massive vessel with her own neural link...specifying primary, secondary and tertiary targets for each of the MIRV warheads in the missile as fast as she could think them.
"GO, GO, GO!" The weapons officer ordered from her seat. Grillmar hit the firing stud and launched the missile, jinking left to avoid the flurry of incoming fire. But the shots missed as the ECM took over and spoofed the enemy weapons systems.
The 'Brilliant' missile streaked onwards through the void, completely ignored by the barrage of Goa'uld fire. Its exhaust trail specially designed to be invisible in space. The 'Brilliant' missile was a stealth weapon, made to remain invisible until the end, right up to the point when the Antimatter explosion vaporized you.
The AI brains inside the missile activated and worked on the neural commands they had received from the WO, and worked accordingly. They used their own sensor data and telemetry input to work out how to best cause the most damage within the assigned target parameters. Their database knew that a Goa'uld mothership had shielding systems and they were formidable.
Nearly instantly the AI decided to sacrifice one of it's five MIRV warheads to detonate and disrupt the shielding systems for the other four to slip through. The nosecone of the missile broke open and a single MIRV launched forward. It streaked ahead while the AI slowed the missile's approach speed enough so that the explosion would not harm the other warheads.
The single warhead streaked forward. Although it was only the size of a shoe, it boasted the destructive potential of a thermonuclear warhead. But the warhead was a 'Brilliant' warhead, and the AI system that it boasted used the sensor data to only detonate enough of an Antimatter reaction to take down the shields.
It did, and the bright flash and explosive shockwave battered down the Goa'uld mothership's shields so the other four deadly payloads could arrive. And they did, as soon as the missile entered the perimiter formed by the shields, the final four warheads jettisoned and hit their own targets.
The first headed straight at the main engine drive section, the AI re- modulating the explosive shockwave to cause a deadly feedback wave in the main engines, effectively causing the engines, then the main reactor to overload.
The second locked it self onto what the sensors earmarked as the 'Primary Weapons system coordination cluster' it was the main router for most of the major weapons on the Goa'uld ship. The Antimatter charge vaporized it and four decks.
The third warhead locked onto the main thruster package for the ship and destroyed it in a blinding flash, crippling any hope for the ship to maneuver effectively.
The fourth and final warhead targeted the bridge. It went headlong into the bridge viewport and forced it's way through the energy shield that concealed it. Then vaporized the command center, the top of the pyramid, and four other decks in one blast.
"That was good, but more boom next time." Grillmar said examining the remains of the destroyed mothership.
"Yes, sir." His weapons officer replied.
"Next."
1714 Hours Asguard O'Neill class Battleship Fanfir, Command Center
Thor watched the Human Alliance fighters make mincemeat out of the opposing enemy starfighters. They were good ships, no doubt about that. The Human Alliance knew how to build vessels for war, and they built them well. But even the best starfighters and pilots couldn't hold out forever, they were getting swarmed by the superior numbers of Covenant fighters. The starfighters were drowning in a sea of hostile craft.
"Supreme Commander. The Human Alliance fighter wings are reporting twenty five percent casualties and nearly fifty percent of their Fighter Craft have expended their projectile munitions." One of the Communications officers said. The Asguard Commander watched as a series of nuclear shockwaves destroyed a Yevetha Star Destroyer. Thor made as close an expression of a frown an Asguard could produce.
"Do they still posses adequate energy reserves?"
"Yes, Supreme Commander."
".... Order them to rotate their forces for re-supply." Thor said.
"Yes, Supreme commander."
"Supreme commander! Sensors show incoming vessels on our starboard quarter!" The sensors technician said in a very frantic tone, frantic for an Asguard that was.
"On screen." Thor ordered. The main holo viewer switched its image from the dancing starfighters to the forms of Covenant ships entering this plane of existence. It was almost a hundred Covenant warships appearing in perfect formation, it was beautiful in a sick and horrifying way. As one the hostile ships re-oriented and erected their energy shields. Points of brilliance blossomed on the hulls of the Covenant warships as their plasma weapons charged.
They were within weapons range.
"All ships fire at will." Thor ordered.
1715 Hours Human Alliance Iroquois Class Battleship 'Annihilator', Armored Command Bridge
Commodore Jimmy Trent was more than happy to oblige Supreme Commander Thor's order to open fire. He smiled with a perverse relish at the chance to destroy those that were now his enemy. He loved the idea of destroying those that had so easily butchered Sentient beings.
"Bring the Ultra Heavy Rail Cannons to bear. Each will target an individual enemy vessel. Fire on my command. All other weapons fire at will." Trent ordered. Even as he finished sheets of fire erupted from all over the 'Annihilator'. Plasma cannon, Phasor Pods, and Photo Gattling turrets opened fire illuminating the void between the opposing fleets. Smaller Rail cannons were arrayed around the perimeter of the hull and opened fire as well.
Rail cannon turrets let loose a torrent of rail gun rounds on the rate of hundreds of shells a minute. Synthetic Diamond Armor Piercing rounds, Antimatter High explosive and Plasma Incendiary shells all mixed together by AI systems to cause the optimal amount of destruction.
They had enough ammunition and energy to shred the enemy.
But the mighty hammer of the Iroquois class was it's massive Ultra Heavy Rail cannons. Boasting four of the immense weapons on individual gun turrets it had more firepower than any other ship class in the human alliance fleet. Each one was capable of accelerating a multi-ton Ultra Dense Synthetic Diamond Armor penetrating Antimatter explosive shell and half the speed of light. These guns were the big brothers to the UNSC Super MAC guns in orbit.
Each gun turret boasted it's own Fusion power plant to charge the epic rail cannon's capacitors.
Even with the wealth of power provided it was nearly three minutes between shots.
"All guns report ready sir." The weapons droid replied from its station.
Commodore Trent looked out into space. His eyes surveyed the core of the Covenant ships. Each would provide an ample demonstration for the power of the Human Alliance.
He pointed in air and the sensors on the bridge brought up targeting sensors. Trent relished the power to directly command such powerful weapons. He placed the targeting reticules over his select victims and nodded.
"Fire." Trent said.
All four cannon fired in unison. Their immense recoil making the Battleship actually rock in space. The contrails of the multi-ton projectiles - each larger than a shuttle – shone bright blue as they hurtled through space.
There was probably something funny about the Covenant attempts to move their ships fast enough to avoid the incoming enemy fire. But it was futile; organic reactions are only so good, and the ability to move that fast enough takes time to build energy. But the Covenant pilots didn't have enough time.
The gargantuan shells impacted and simply shattered the enemy shields with their tremendous velocities. Something that big, going that fast could not be stopped no matter how good your shields and armor was. The same went for the armor plating of the victim's vessels.
The alloy that the Covenant used, so effective at holding back the explosives in Archer missiles and the raw force of MAC guns...it was like wet tissue paper before a cinderblock thrown against it.
The four shells hit at the same time and their antimatter warheads detonated.
Four suns were born in the darkness of space, their brilliance and beauty something unseen by the combats. But their existence was short lived, as rapidly as they were created they dissipated, returning the darkness of space to the combatants. The rapidly expanding cloud of gasses and what little debris was the only tombstone those slaughtered Covenant warriors would ever have.
"Reload." Trent ordered and watched the hostile forces continue to advance.
1723 Hours Federation Defiant class Light Cruiser 'Gemini', The Bridge,
"Full power to the engines. Take us to heading 142 mark 23." Captain Taggerd ordered. A trickle of sweat ran down the seasoned commander's back. He knew that this was hopeless. They couldn't take down that many enemy ships, even if they did have a significant edge with that Human Alliance firepower.
The numbers game of combat was not the type he liked. He preferred the tactics game.
"Aye sir." The helmsman responded plotting a course that was directly into the heart of the Covenant formation. No, Taggerd was not going to play kamikaze, but he was going to get in close enough to negate any of those Plasma weapons that the Covenant used. The Defiant class was maneuverable and it was lethal if he could get it in close.
Taggerd watched the main view screen for a moment, then diverted his attention to his smaller tactical display that showed the vessels in the formations. Another Defiant Light Cruiser, a pair of Fek'Lhr heavy cruisers an Asguard O'Neill battleship were moving into an attack formation behind him.
Captain Taggerd squinted and examined the Covenant vessels. They were charging weapons, and if they didn't get in fast enough they were going to be vaporized by that soon to be born volley of plasma fire.
"Maximum Impulse. Squeeze whatever you can from the reactor." Taggerd ordered. The helmsman nodded and began entering in commands.
The Captain was grimacing as the speed of the 'Gemini' increased noticeably. Come on...faster...
The flares of Covenant plasma weapons reached a brilliant climax on their hulls. The dazzling red energy coalesced and condensed into the deadly, guided orbs of Covenant Plasma weapons. Taggerd had never seen them before...it was terrifying.
To see those ships all spewing forth such a deadly barrage was frightening on a level that Captain Taggerd had never experienced. They were going to die if he froze up.
"Push it now." Taggerd snarled watching the sphere of red coherent plasma streaming straight towards the main viewport. The 'Gemini' squeezed out whatever reluctant reserves of thrust it could and darted around the massive globe of plasma. The ship rocked uneasily and the temperature on the bridge flared briefly, sweat beading Taggerd's forehead.
"Dorsal shields down to fifteen percent." Tactical said.
"Other damage?" Taggerd asked.
"None sir."
"Other ships status?" Taggerd asked of those that had been following.
"The Klingon vessels 'Shel'l Mock' and 'Hig'dahr' are still behind us. The 'Orion' was grazed and it's shields are down, they can still fly though....but...oh god..." The Operations officer said but trailed off.
"What?" Taggerd asked.
"The Asguard ship 'Valhalla' is gone. It was vaporized sir..." The Operations officer said slomenly. He shook his head lightly. Taggerd was shocked. The Asguard had such advanced technology, their shielding was nearly perfect...nothing could have taken it down in one shot.
"What happened to it?" Taggerd asked.
"No less than...twenty Covenant Plasma rounds impacted the vessel. It didn't stand a chance." Operations replied.
Taggerd frowned. Nothing could have survived that hellstorm.
"Full power to shields and engines. Prime the Pulse Phasors and arm the Quantum Torpedoes. Let's send some Covenant to hell for the crew of the 'Valhalla'." Taggerd said returning his gaze to the Covenant ships.
"Sir." Tactical replied, the officer's hands dancing over the controls with practiced speed and accuracy. Taggerd picked out his first victim. Hopefully the first of many...
Hopefully first of a great many enemy ships to die today.
1950 Hours – Battle +3 Hours, Asguard O'Neill class Battleship 'Fanfir', Command Center
Thor had abandoned observing through the main view screens and changed to a three dimensional hologram of the battle. His eyes were not good enough to pick out the individual engagements in this brawl. Now he needed the computer systems and holographics to properly command his forces.
He'd abandoned command of the 'Fanfir' and left it to it's Captain, technically he was in charge, but he had too much to concern himself with at this point.
Much too much.
Nine of the O'Neill class Battleships he commanded were in flames. That was the single largest defeat in battle the Asguard had ever suffered. He'd pulled the 'Fanfir' out of the line, but he couldn't afford to be overly protective of the other eleven ships he commanded. Those vessels were dueling with the newest wave of Covenant vessels that had arrived.
Covenant tactics were simple, but brutally effective. The main element that had come in first was their center in space. More of the Covenant's allied vessels had come in to reinforce their positions and throw more starfighters into the fray. The first assault force had been the right wing of the Covenant assault. Another hour brought a like force against the left flank of the Coalition forces. The Covenant were fighting to envelop the defenders, using their inability to move to their advantage.
"All weapons engage the Death glider wing at quadrant twenty-three E, port quarter." One of the coordinators on the bridge ordered over the constant sounds of communication and frantic commands.
The Human Alliance fighters were severely reduced in number now. The sheer numbers of Covenant fighters had overwhelmed their opponents. There were still Fighters and Fighter Bombers flying around, but they were concentrating their efforts at defending the Human Alliance Iroquois class Battleship. It was by far the most powerful ship in the fleet, and if it went down the defense would surely fail.
The four guns of the Battleship fired again, sweeping four more clusters of Covenant vessels from space. They were brutally efficient destroyers. The rest of the Human Alliance fleet remained huddled around their massive brother, their anti-starfighter weapons blazing away at the fighters attempting to destroy the Battleship. With increasing regularity the rail cannons that the smaller ships boasted would open fire and perforate a Covenant ship moving in for the attack.
Another volley of Covenant Plasma fire rolled through space, being answered by a barrage of Nuclear Rockets from the Human Alliance. The weapons detonated and their shockwaves dissipated the plasma. But the Covenant had a near limitless supply of plasma...and the Human Alliance only had a finite supply of Rockets. Soon, the Plasma was going to start hitting.
"Supreme Commander Thor." A human voice asked. Thor turned to the main viewscreen and saw a human in a jumpsuit on the screen. Beneath the image read 'Captain Edwards: United Nations Star Command', he was one of the UNSC commanders that made up the remnants of the UNSC fleet.
"Yes Captain?"
"We're tracking incoming Covenant ships headed towards the poles. I think they're moving in to start landing ground troops." Edwards said flatly.
"Do what you can Captain, much of the fleet is engaged." Thor replied.
"Yes Supreme Commander. The UNSC will do what we can on our own." Edwards replied.
Thor nodded. The UNSC had taken a massive battering fighting off four other thrusts towards the planet. The last Covenant assault had drowned in starship coolant and choked on MAC rounds. But this defense was coming at a high cost, of the 89 UNSC vessels that remained they were down to 31. This was a vicious fight. The UNSC was not going to go down without a fight and they were fighting tooth and nail to kill every Covenant ship they could.
More than one UNSC vessel had self destructed and taken out Covenant vessels in it's death throws when near destruction.
Thor looked at the smoldering ruins of UNSC, Federation, Klingon and Human Alliance... and even Asguard vessels adrift in space. Thor had been right, they were equal and united in battle, and in death.
2000 Hours, UNSC Cruiser 'Robert E Lee', Command Deck
Captain Edwards coughed at the light smoke permeating the air. The explosion of crewman Henderson's navigation console had been spectacular after a Coral Skipper strafing run. Sending the poor crewman to the medbay with a foot long shard of plastic sticking out of his throat. He wasn't going to make it.
Well, neither were the rest of the crew, so he wasn't going to be alone for long.
"Sir, Covenant vessels incoming." The AI responded from it's holo tank. Red blips began to flood the screen once more, and there were so few blue blips to oppose them.
"Charge the MAC guns and arm all remaining Archer missile pods." Edwards ordered.
"Sir, all chain gun ammunition is depleted. We have no anti-fighter capacity. All Longsword interceptors have been destroyed as well." The AI informed him.
"Well...I don't think it will be an issue for much longer." Edwards said.
"All weapons ready." The AI finished its tone grim.
"Incoming." Operations said softly. Outside in space, they could see them incoming. Those smooth and flowing shapes of Covenant warships emerging from Slipspace. Their formation perfect and unchanged as they emerged. There was something wrong about how well they could maneuver...of course he'd been briefed on how well the Covenant could maneuver...but it was just wrong.
"All ships fire at will. Take as many of them down as you can...send them to hell." Edwards said and nodded at the AI.
A pair of dull ringing thuds reverberated through the Cruiser. Two glowing MAC rounds launched through space and towards the Covenant attackers. Along with these two others flew through the void. The last ragged volley some of these ships would ever fire.
The motley barrage slammed into the Covenant attackers and sent many of them to their fiery destruction. Some last act of vengeance for those that were about to die. Somehow, after so long it wasn't a shock they were going to die. It was the Covenant...they always won.
"Not today...they're going to die today." Edwards said grimly.
"Covenant weapons charging." The AI said. The hulls of over a hundred Covenant warships began to alight with plasma strings, the red lines glowing in the darkness.
They were going to die...all of them.
"Full power ahead. Fire all Archer missiles...and set the reactor to self destruct on my command." Edwards said.
2019 Hours Asguard O'Neill Class Battleship 'Fanfir' Command Center
Thor watched with a string as the UNSC ships went down in a blaze of glory, their sacrifices earning them admiration from any warrior this day. They had died willingly; they had died fighting the enemy that was pushing their people towards extinction. They did not want to do so, but they so readily gave their lives.
"Heroes." Thor murmured as he watched the expanding shockwave from the detonation of the 'Robert E Lee's fusion reactor.
"Supreme commander....I have more incoming..."
"Where, and what?" Thor snapped. More reinforcements weren't worth his notice now. There were already too many Covenant for his remaining forces to handle. Plus the Covenant were already landing ground troops on Earth. The space battle was all but lost, the ground campaign might go better...but without space superiority it was already over.
"They're coming in from the opposite direction of the main Covenant armada. They appear to be Yevethan ships. At least the design pattern matches most of the Yevetha designs we have..." The sensor operator answered.
"What do you mean?"
"Well, they look like Yevetha ships, but their Identification signals paint them as something else."
"What?"
"They're broadcasting as being 'Imperial' ships..."
2017 Hours Imperial Super Star Destroyer 'Thrawn', Main Bridge
Grand Admiral Kurrs Anjek stood before the transperisteel viewports and watched the bright lines of hyperspace travel. His cold, shallow eyes glared out from behind a pair of specticals. Their dark pits not eluding to any emotion on his part. His spotless white uniform of Grand Admiral was worn on his thin, bony seven-foot tall frame.
He clasped his black leather gloved hands rested at the small of his back, a grell wood cane held in one, the end of the cane tapping the small of his back ever so lightly.
"Time?" Grand Admiral Anjek asked.
"One minute Grand Admiral." A gray uniformed officer said.
"Good. Order all crewmen to battle stations and have all fighter wings ready for combat." Anjek ordered.
"Yes, Grand Admiral."
Anjek turned on his heel from the main bridge viewport and strode down the elevated walk that looked down on the bridge crewmen on either side of him. He walked determinedly, his footfalls clanging on the durasteel deckplates loudly in the otherwise silent bridge.
His steps took him to his command chair situated at the end of the walk. He sat down and felt ever so much like a feudal lord surveying his subjects. Anjek always found such a position distasteful. He never liked being a commander, he much preferred being a leader.
And right now he was leading his fleet into harms way. This battle was supposed to be larger than Endor, larger than Bilbringi, larger than Ithor. This was going to be the largest battle he had ever commanded. And that was why he was taking the hundred and fifty vessels of the rebuilt Imperial Fleet into battle.
Grand Admiral Kurrs Anjek held the position of being one of the most powerful commanders in the remains of the New Order. Ever since the war with the New Republic had ended, he had strove towards re-building Imperial naval assets decimated from the decades of conflict. At first there had been much discord amongst the remaining Moffs, but the Yuuhzan Vong invasion had proven Anjek right.
He'd been promoted to the rank of Grand Admiral...the first Grand Admiral since Thrawn, and had been given supreme command of the Imperial Navy. He still answered to Supreme Commander Palleaon of course, but he was loyal to the New Order – or what remained of it.
Now he had been tasked with one of the greatest commands he would ever have to carry out.
Defeat the Covenant, and exact vengeance against the Vong for Ithor...and all the atrocities they had committed.
"Emerging from hyperspace in four...three.... two...one..." One of the technicians said aloud. As he finished one, the starfield before him reverted into glistening diamonds on black felt. Far beneath him, two opposing fleets dueled in space. Explosions and weapons fire stitched back and forth between them.
"Redress the lines and prepare for engagement." Anjek ordered.
"Sir."
"Open a comm to the Covenant fleet." Anjek ordered. A small beep informed him that the line was open, and the translation software was working.
"This message is to every warrior in the Covenant Fleet. I am Grand Admiral Kurrs Anjek, Supreme Commander of the Imperial Navy. I have come to this field today to exact vengeance for all the crimes you and your servants have committed. The list of murder and destruction is to large to read aloud, but you know the crimes you have committed." Anjek said evenly, his voice dripping with rage and fury that made him such a vicious opponent.
"I give you a warning according to the rules of war. No prisoners shall be taken by Imperial forces, no surrendering ships shall be given quarter, and no wounded shall be given treatment; any prisoners we take shall be executed, any ships surrendering shall be destroyed. I inform you that your only way to survive is to run from this battle." Anjek said.
"And you may only retreat with the permission of the Imperial Navy." Anjek finished and had the com line cut.
"Open a line to the commanding ship of this engagement." Anjek said. A holo appeared in front of him of an unfamiliar alien. Anjek's eyebrow arched slightly, but he thought nothing of it. He was not of the 'old breed' of Imperials. Humans and aliens could fight and die just the same; blaster bolts don't make distinctions.
"I am Supreme Commander Thor, acting commander of the Coalition forces at Earth." The alien said.
"I am Grand Admiral Kurrs Anjek, Supreme Commander of the Imperial Navy. Supreme Commander Thor, I am here at the orders of my superiors and the request of the New Republic." Anjek said.
"I trust they shall arrive soon?" Thor asked.
"Unfortunately that is why we are here. The New Republic fleet is far more spread out than my forces. They will arrive in a day's time. The New Republic requested that we come and assist until they and the Coalition forces arrive tomorrow." Anjek said.
"And will you assist?"
"The honor of the Imperial Fleet demands nothing less Supreme Commander Thor." Anjek replied.
"Thank you Grand Admiral. The people of this world shall be forever in your debt." Thor said.
Anjek nodded and cut the comm.
"All fighters launch. All gun crews fire at will. Kill them...kill all of them." Anjek said looking out of the bridge. His eyes glaring out at his foes...his opponents that were already dead.
They just didn't know it yet.
2053 Hours, Covenant Assault Carrier 'Nightmare', Command Deck
Fleet Commander Lit'Kindame was not pleased. In the grand scheme of things, they were going to win. These primates couldn't hope to force back the raw numbers of the Covenant Armada arrayed against them. Even the new subjects vessels were killing the enemy. It was only a matter of time before the last vestiges of the enemy were wiped from the stars.
But it was coming at a terrible cost. These new Human allies were much more powerful than the primates they were originally fighting. Their weapons were strong and their shields were difficult to overcome, and they were cunning...
Losses were estimated at almost three hundred Covenant vessels were lost and over nine hundred allied ships had been destroyed. These humans had managed to put up quite a furious defense in the face of superior numbers.
The most unsettling part was that the increasingly high numbers of casualties were being caused by the newest arrivals. In the past half cycle almost a hundred ships had been destroyed by the 'Imperials', their commander was very good.
"Fleet Commander, the enemy ships just jumped again!" One of the command Elites said.
These 'Imperials' knew how to fight. The Fleet Commander watched as ten of the large, triangle shaped ships seemed to jump hundreds of units in an eye blink and reappear far beyond the plasma orbs that were about to destroy them. Their green energy cannons opened fire and destroyed another five ships before they could even react.
Kindame swore vividly as he watched the destruction being wrought upon his fleet.
At this rate...he was going to lose this battle...
2056 Hours, SSF-20 Fighter, Shining Armor
Shining Armor was fighting for his life. He had been inside this cockpit for the past four hours. He'd run out of Rail cannon ammunition, missiles and rockets long ago. He'd also caught plenty of plasma fire and he needed to get repaired soon. But there wasn't time and he had to stay in this fight. Now he was using pulse phasers and trying to take down a flight of Al'kreesh bombers auguring in on the Federation Sovereign class Battleship 'Dumbeldore'. His pulse phasers weren't able to get through the Goa'uld shields.
""Dumbeldore' I can't get them...brace for incoming fire!" Shining Armor shouted over the comms line.
"Need a hand?" A voice shot back. Shining Armor wasn't in the mood for jokes at this point, but he was shocked as ten lethal looking fighters swept past his wounded slow moving fighter and decended upon the slow moving enemy bombers. Their sharply angled fins and sleek lines made them look much more predatory than his wounded fighter.
The new arrivals finished off the enemy bombers and fell with the SSF- 20.
"Human alliance pilot 'Shining Armor', we're Tie Interceptor flight 'Dagger' you can fall back for repairs if you want. Human Alliance is trying to pull assets back for refuel, re-armament and repairs. We're here to cover you." A human voice came across the comm.
"No can do Dagger flight, my place is in battle."
"Then we're with you Shining armor."
"Let's kill some Covies then."
2100 Hours, Klingon Battleship 'IKV Hqar'Clk' Bridge
"We're loosing control systems. Main power is failing. Life support is in danger of failing. Weapons systems inoperable." The ops officer shouted over the sounds of warning alarms. The haze in the bridge was getting too thick to see through, and almost thick enough to cause some problems to breath, even for a Klingon.
"Do I still have guns?" Captain Quog demanded.
"Barely Captain."
"Then keep firing!" Quog ordered. He glared through the smoke and fires towards the main screen, it was still working...barely.
"Ramming speed towards that Covenant ship! We'll ram them and board them." Quog ordered.
"Yes Captain."
The nearly crippled 'Hqar'Clk' lumbered towards the Covenant warship. It was barely moving, but the Covenant ship was close enough to ram. It couldn't move out of the way fast enough.
The gap was closed rapidly and the massive wounded beast that was the Klingon Battleship slammed into the Covenant ship.
"We have contact!" The ops officer shouted.
"Divert all power to tractor beams. I don't want these cowards going anywhere. Then, extend the boarding tubes and order all hands to participate in the boarding action." Quog said.
"Yes Captain."
"We shall slaughter these cowards and bring honor to our house this day!" Quog shouted with pleasure. He turned and headed off the bridge, the remaining crewmen that were alive filed along with him. The 'Hqar'Clk' had taken a tremendous amount of damage as it tangled with a Yuuhzan Vong asteroid ship and a pair of Goa'uld Motherships. It had barely been flying without the miracle work done by the ships engineers.
Now the ship was probably serving it's final duty. It's name would be honored.
The marching Klingons carried their curved Bat'leths and disruptors. This was going to be a bloody boarding action.
"We have not yet begun to fight brothers. Death to our foes." Quog ordered as they reached the boarding tube. It ran out of the ship and into the hull of the Covenant ship. At the bottom a neat hole had been punched through and a few Elite heads could be seen.
With a blood curdling war cry the Klingons charged forward through the boarding tube, their howls of battle more than enough to instill fear in the hearts of the bravest foe. And this charge thundered in the confined boarding tube.
The warriors ran on, oblivious to the fact that they were running to their own deaths. They simply ran on into the muzzles of the Covenant plasma rifles. Blue and green plasma fire traded off with disruptor fire as the two opposing forces.
With a single bloody slam the warriors decended into vicious hand-to- hand combat. Bat'leth and Plasma swords clashed in the melee as the most primitive and ancient of all forms of combat was played out between the two warrior races.
2359 Hours Super Star Destroyer 'Thrawn' Command Bridge
Grand Admiral Anjek stood and surveyed the utter devastation that hung in space before him. Hundreds of ships spun through space in slow arcs. The complete and total slaughter that had transpired this day was something unseen since the Clone Wars.
A million beings had perished in this space battle alone.
It had been wholesale slaughter. The Covenant fleet had been devastated. Their ships were swept from the sky in the confrontation.
And now it was over...at a tremendous Coalition cost.
Only the Sovereign class Battleships 'Ashkhan' and 'Dumbledore' remained in service from the Federation detachment. The Klingon ships had been destroyed entirely. The crew of the 'IKV Hqar'Clk' had captured a Covenant Cruiser but that was the extent of the Klingon forces.
The Human Alliance fleet had been decimated. Only the Viper Class Heavy Carrier 'Olerind' and the Iroquois Class Battleship 'Annihilator' remained from their flotilla, and a mere handful of fighters had survived the long engagement.
The Asguard....
Nineteen of their ships had been destroyed. Only the Battleship 'Fanfir' remained. Every other Asguard vessel was vaporized, the Covenant had been very systematic with their destruction of the Asguard and Human Alliance vessels.
The UNSC fleet was gone. Not a single ship remained. They had been completely wiped off this plane of existence. But they hadn't died hopelessly, the 83 UNSC ships and 40 USCM ships had taken 293 Covenant vessels to hell with them. They'd smashed three separate pushes towards the planet and severely reduced the Covenant ground forces.
But there were troops on the planet.
Grand Admiral Anjek had ordered four stormtrooper Legions and five army groups down to the planet in support of the Coalition troops that were already on planet. The Covenant troops weren't going to last long down there.
Anjek watched the tumbling ships in space and frowned. This was why he loathed war. So many dead.
"It must be so horrific that we do not become fond of it." Anjek said aloud as he watched the silent monuments to the dead hurtle through the void.
"Grand Admiral. The Covenant prisoners are here." The Stormtrooper Colonel that stood behind him said.
"Bring the vermin in." Anjek snarled. The Colonel nodded and the blast doors at the rear of the bridge opened with a hiss. As Anjek turned he spotted the Covenant warriors being drug into the chamber.
Ten Klingons were half carrying, half dragging the three struggling prisoners down the walkway. Two squads of stormtroopers walked along behind them, agitated at the fact ten, barbaric looking warriors armed to the teeth were walking into the presence of an Imperial Grand Admiral.
The Klingon warriors looked haggard, tired and beaten. One had a slow flow of pinkish blood trailing from his chest. All of them carried wicked looking curved blades that were thickly coated with purple and blue Covenant blood.
The three Elites were drug, and then tossed at Anjeks feet. All three wore pieces of the Golden armor of a high commander. A protocol droid walked forward and stood next to Anjek as the Grand Admiral scowled down at the broken and bleeding foes before him.
One of the elites snarled something incomprehensible.
"He states that we shall all be destroyed as the will of the Gods." The droid supplied. Anjek stood there, his scowl pronounced and his eyes glaring death. He brought his cane back and slammed it into the side of the Elite's head. A soft crack sounded as the hard grell wood connected with the Elite's mandibles. The shackled warrior fell to the side and was roughly picked back up by one of the Klingons.
"I think not." Anjek said shortly then let the droid translate. The Elite growled and responded quickly.
"He states that we are already dead and that this temporary set back shall not halt the prophets."
"I did not bring him here for interrogation. I am returning you to your ship, it's weapons and shields have been disabled. Your crew has been executed and you are the minimum needed to pilot the craft. You are to carry a message to your commanders." Anjek said with a snarl.
The Elite grunted back a reply.
"He inquires as to what this message is."
"You're all going to die. By the honor and name of the Imperial Navy you shall pay for all your crimes. Not just the crimes you have committed, but also those of your servants and slaves. You shall be forced to provide the blood that you have taken from so many peoples in your long string of atrocities."
"There will be no trials, there will be no investigations. The rules of war do not apply to you. We will bomb your planets with weapons, with gases and biological weapons, we will drop nuclear warheads upon your cities. We will reduce your planets to molten rock. There will be no surrender. There will be only death." Anjek said with soft deadliness.
And...chapter. Yes, I did use the Empire as a 'good guy' but the Yuuhzan Vong situation kinda made the Empire and the New Republic closer...and yes I probably made the Imperial fleet a whole lot stronger than normal...but it's fiction.
Well, that was the titanic space battle, but not the last... Next chapter gets to see some ground combat. Coming up a little sooner;
Chapter 10: How to wage war, Coalition style.
UNSC high command was in a state close to catatonic shock...no...wait...it was catatonic shock. Over two thousand Hegemony vessels, backed up by an eleven million strong invasion force? They were dead, and unfortunately they knew it. How could they possibly defeat a Covenant fleet and army that large?
Coalition forces had been pouring into Earth's ground defenses like mad, Wookiee infantry, Colonial Marines, Saurian Shock Troops, everything available was being pushed to Earth to buy time. Troops and troop ships could trickle in faster than battle fleets apparently. High command had already written off the space battle. All they could hope to do was hold out for a few hours at max. The Covenant simply would have too many ships to take on right now. The motley collection of vessels arrayed against them would be swept aside like so many bugs.
The forces that had been mustered to defend earth would have to hold out for three days before the vanguard of the Coalition fleets would arrive. But three days could mean the battle would long since been lost... But the UNSC couldn't do anything; all they could hope for was a miracle.
Something that was going to stop the Covenant armada.
Unfortunately they weren't going to get one.
December 14th 2552, 1654 Hours, Asguard O'Neill class Battleship Fanfir, High Earth Orbit
Supreme Commander Thor sat atop his command chair. His large black eyes surveying the forces arrayed at his command, and then shifted to the void of space before him. He was about to commence one of the most difficult and undoubtedly the largest engagement he had ever – or would ever – command. It was a nerve-wracking experience, despite the Asguard commander's tactical skill and prowess...
To divert his haggard mind he took stock of the ships at his command and the power that he wielded against the Covenant juggernaut that was rapidly approaching. His vessels were by far the most formidable craft in the fleet; the Twenty 'O'Neill' class Battleships were the most technologically advanced vessels at his command.
Making up a close second to this formidable line were the eighteen ships of the Human Alliance. They were perhaps as advanced technologically as the Asguard, their crews were hardened veterans of long campaigns in their home galaxy, and their ships were designed to be pure combat vessels, this probably made them the strongest ships in the fleet. A single Remington Class Frigate boasted a hellish volume of firepower.
Perhaps they were stronger than the Asguard vessels themselves...
The Federation and the Klingons fielded the third strongest set ships. The Klingon vessels were designed as warships with little in mind beyond combat and battle, their crews were the Elite of the Imperial Klingon Navy and were ready to seek glory in battle. The Federation vessels were not pure warships. Despite the Borg, the Cardasians and the Dominon, much of the Federation fleet was geared towards exploration and research. The most combat heavy vessels were the Akira and Defiant class vessels, but the Sovereign class vessels could take a tremendous beating and dish out the same.
The weakest vessels he had were the UNSC and Colonial Marine warships. The UNSC vessels had no shielding, poor maneuverability and practically no armor. The Colonial Marine vessels were even weaker than that. They did not even carry the massive Rail Gun, or 'MAC gun' that the UNSC ships carried.
Thor realized the extremely weak position that he had. He could not run, nor could he fight a stand up battle. But if he fought a stand up battle, the most likely outcome was the complete and total annihilation of the forces he commanded. But if he ran, the ground troops on the planet and over eight billion sentient beings would be murdered.
He was at an impasse.
With a few motions on his control board he opened a comm frequency to every vessel in the ragtag Coalition forces, then mustered up enough spirit to address the assembled vessels and their crews.
"This is Supreme Commander Thor of the Asguard fleet, acting commander of the Coalition fleet forces at the UNSC Homeworld..." Thor began tentatively...he had never been an orator amongst his people. He was a military commander, not a speaker and those that fought with him did so for their people and the existence of other species, they needed no encouragement.
But now...now they were facing insurmountable odds that were larger than he could have thought possible. It would have been too much for weaker races to bear and they needed some sort of encouragement, even if it was just a grim reminder of their own mortality.
Thor drew another breath and began.
"We are not of similar background, we are not of the same species or even of the same galaxy. We come from Earth, or Sol, or Qo'noS, or Halla, or a hundred other worlds and systems. We are not of like mind or like culture; we are not of similar upbringing or mindset. All our peoples have survived different catastrophes and trials each shaping us differently from the rest."
"If it had not been for this war or the people on the world beneath us...we would never have even gleaned the wild idea that the other existed. Our races would have continued with our own affairs and thought nothing of others."
"But something has happened. We all face a common foe now. We all are together, here and now, our peoples are united against the same threat. As we sit here, our forces arrayed against the same enemy, our weapons all held firm against the same opponent...we are closer now than we could have ever been had our peoples met under different conditions."
"Now...now we shall enter into a battle against those which we have fought separately, those which we have struggled against for so long on our own...now we fight them together."
"Our pasts are different, for each and every one of our peoples, but now our present and futures are united as one. Now we shall be stronger together than we could ever be on our own. Now we shall fight against those that are worse than any enemy we have ever met in combat before."
"May we see death or life...victory, or defeat, we shall carry out an act which shall lead to the destruction of the Covenant and all their servants and slaves. After this day, we shall unite."
Thor finished his speech to silence amongst the other Asguard on the bridge. Their focus lapsed from their stations, their eyes affixed to their Commander. Slowly, they nodded in grim agreement with Thor's words. It was true, they were different from those in a Klingon Fek'Lhr Heavy Cruiser, or those in the cockpits of Human Alliance SSF-20 Space Superiority Fighters.
But after this battle, they truly would be united.
Another message came across the com; it's origin from the Klingon Flagship.
"You speak eloquently Thor, and you speak truthfully. After this battle, we shall be fellow warriors, and we shall share the honor of this battle!" The Klingon commanding Admiral said, his voice filled with bloodlust and pride, in the background battle cries could be heard.
It was an ironic contrast to Thor's flat tone and long speech, and the solemn responses of his crewmen. But the fact that both extremes were working together was something tremendous.
"Sensors report incoming vessels." The Sensor operator reported. The main screen shifted and showed the incoming tracts of hostile craft.
Two thousand strong....
The Covenant Armada was coming....
"All ships, ready for combat." Thor ordered.
"Today is a good day to die..." The Klingon admiral said.
"But the day is not yet over." Thor finished.
Throughout the fleet vessels prepared for full combat. Bulkheads and energy shields sealed off compartments and sectors in ships. Weapons emplacements charged their energy batteries, primed warheads and loaded shells. Fighter craft readied and launched into space. Marines and crewmen rushed to their stations.
The Coalition fleet was ready for battle. It was arrayed in some semblance of a wall. The Asguard, Human Alliance, Federation and Klingon ships in the center of the line arrayed against the incoming Covenant vessels, the UNSC and Colonial Marine warships located near the poles of the planet. The best that the weaker vessels could manage would be to engage the troopships and any stragglers.
The brunt of the combat would rest upon those that could fight and survive.
But they weren't going to last long.
The front vanguard of the Covenant forces was made up of a mixture of Goa'uld motherships, Yuuhzan Vong asteroid vessels, and Yevetha ships. Behind them were several Covenant vessels, they appeared to be coordinating the other ships. They emerged from transit in unison and in perfect formation before the defenders.
This front vanguard began launching starfighters and moving forward to engage.
1650 Hours Battle Comencement Asguard O'Neill class Battleship Fanfir, Command Center
Thor watched the deployment with a steady eye. He had studied the enemy vessels diligently and knew their weaknesses and their strengths. The Goa'uld had been his nemesis for so long, he cared little for them. The Yuuhzan Vong and the Yevetha were just as bad as the Goa'uld and were apparently much more cunning. Not to mention the different combat and technological styles these races reflected. The Vong used black hole generators in lieu of shields, and the Yevetha preferred projectiles to energy weapons.
But they were further away than they should have been. Normally they could have jumped in much closer than they had come in; right now they were ten minutes out of weapons range.
Odd.
They were launching fighters, and that wasn't as odd. No...that actually made sense.
The Yuuhzan Vong and the Covenant had earned a heavy respect for New Republic Fighters, and perhaps they were worried that there were some stationed here. Thor fought back amusement, the New Republic fighters weren't here yet, but the Human Alliance was...and they were slightly better.
"Order Human Alliance fighters to engage at will." Thor instructed the Human Alliance commanders. They were the only ones who had fighters, but they had a lot of them.
1652 Hours, Human Alliance 'Viper' Class Heavy Carrier 'Olirend', Main Hangar Bay
The Human Alliance had a monopoly on Starfighters in their Home Galaxy. During the first Antaran War, the utility of a small easily hidden vessel that was heavily armed became apparent when planets could mount effective resistance against enemy fleets with a few fighter squadrons. After that the Human Alliance made starfighters the backbone of their fleet assets and their primary offensive weapons.
The standard Human Alliance fighter was the SSF-20 Space Superiority Fighter. It was a vessel that inspired cold dread in the pilots of the Antaran Hegemony and Ithkul Empire. It was shielded, heavily armored and highly maneuverable. It's arsenal was impressive. Wingtip mounted pulse phasor pods, and a pair of prow mounted gattling railguns. 6 Anomic Energy warheads and 20 'Flechette' Nuclear rockets rounded out it's arsenal. These ships were sharks of space.
The SFB-30 was just as tough, and as a Fighter-Bomber, lethal to capital ships. It carried six 'Brillaint' Missiles with Antimatter warheads and forty 'Flechette' mini-Nuke rockets. This fighter could decimate capital ships.
Pilot unit 9-892-F53-A0 climbed into his cockpit. The 'collars' of his humanoid form were adorned with the rank of Commander; he was the leader of his 50-man fighter squadron and overall commander of all fighters aboard the 'Olirend'. The edges of his canopy were adorned with the callsign 'Shining Armor' as his Squadron had been the savior of many a merchant vessel from commerce raiders during the last Antaran-Human Alliance War.
He held a metallic arm out of his unsealed canopy and made a circle in the air. He heard his mishmash of pilots from all over Alliance Space cheer him in response. Whether it was the shouts from Humans, the roars from Saurians or the metallic screeches of his mechanoid brethren, he knew they were ready.
"Okay Javelin squadron, let's give these Covie bastards hell." Shining Armor said to his pilots. A few more scattered cheers were heard across the comms then they died down, these pilots were loose, but they were good...really good. They knew to cut the chatter in combat.
The pilots sat back and waited for the go signal.
"Javelin squadron, Gladius squadron and Hibernia squadron, you have a go for launch. Give 'em hell boys." The flight controller said across the comm. A few more cheers ran across the comms as the pilots launched their fighters into the void.
"Okay pilots, form up with wingmen and prepare for swarm attack. Use your pulse phasers and Railgun ammo; and save your Anomic Warheads and mini- Nukes for their capital ships." 'Shining Armor' ordered. A resounding reply of 'affirmatives' came back over his comm.
"Locked, Cocked and ready to rock boss." One of his younger pilots replied.
The fighters switched into full thrust and leapt towards the opposing single ships, along with the other hundreds of small fighters from the rest of the fleet. The Human Alliance put fighters on nearly every capital ship large enough to cram a 50-fighter squadron on it. That gave the Alliance fleet a distinct advantage.
The sleek, swept wing spacecraft looked like predators in space, their mattle black paint making them nearly impossible to see without weapons flashes to illuminate their hulls. And those would come soon enough.
"This is Gold Flight, moving off to sector eight for right flanking run on their ships..." 'Lumbering Giant' reported. He was splitting his SBF- 30 squadron off into the well-practiced flanking movement against Capital ships. The SFF-20's would attack and eliminate or distract the fighter cover the enemy had, allowing the bombers an unobstructed attack path.
Hostiles always fell for it.
"Affirmative 'Lumbering Giant' good luck and good hunting." 'Shining Armor replied over the comm.
Shining Armor's processing units analyzed both the direct linkup with his ships sensors and his own spectrum equipment. The Fighter's AI reported that they would be entering weapons range in 23 seconds. He compared the combat abilities of the enemy forces and their positioning, speculating to their plan of attack.
The Goa'uld 'Death Gliders' as the primitive vessels were called, were oriented on his left flank. They were slightly ahead of the main formation. The Vong 'Coral Skippers' were making up the center of the forces along with the Covenant 'Sephera' fighters. They were set back in the center of the formation. On the right flank were Yevethan 'D-Type' fighters. These were what concerned Shining Armor the most. If he could believe the reports those fighters were more maneuverable than his SSF- 20's, but not nearly as heavily armed. Apparently they were hoping to envelop the Human Alliance fighter wings.
And that wasn't going to happen.
"Gladius Squadron, move and engage the 'Death Gliders', Hibernia Squadron, engage the 'D-Types'. Javelin, you're right down the middle with me." Shining armor ordered, the slight course corrections were made and the two opposing fighter swarms slammed into each other.
Any hope for small, tactical advantages was lost as the hostile masses of fighter craft slammed into one another and began what was the simplest form of struggle in any galaxy, survival.
The horde of starfighters twisted in elegant dances of death. Streams of projectiles and directed energy blasts tore through the void. Explosions filled the vast expanse of space as ships were simply vaporized in the copious amounts of firepower being tossed about.
Shining Armor cracked apart a Vong fighter with a shower of Pulse Phasor blasts, overwhelming it's defensive systems. He spun his fighter on its axis, stopping short of a barrage of Death glider fire and ripped apart a Yevethan D-Type. There was little anyone could do to make sense of this melee. He made a hard bank left, a manuver that would have ripped apart an organic pilot, and dodged the fire of a quartet of Vong craft. Shining Armor jinked and weaved, avoiding more of the enemy fire, then steered this lethal caravan through a throng of Death Gliders. He deftly avoided collisions, but his pursers weren't as lucky.
The robot spun his fighter and dove back into the fray, vaporizing three D- Types in short order with Pulse Phasor fire. A burst of plasma cannon fire from a Sephera fighter flared against his shields. Shining Armor nose- dived and avoided the rest of the barrage. The elite followed the dive and stayed right on the robot pilot's tail, sending lances of plasma fire behind him.
Shining armor pulled up...hard. The SSF-20 fighter went straight up, the G forces from the sudden change of direction nearly overwhelming his intertial damper systems. Shining Armor could feel the strain on both his body and his ship as the loop continued.
The Covenant pilot wasn't so lucky, while his ship could do a manuver like that, the Elite behind the controls couldn't. After the first turn, the shock of the loop snapped his neck like a twig. The Sephera fighter, now out of control, slammed into a Death Glider and the pair exploded.
"This is Lumbering Giant, we are beginning the attack run on the enemy starships now." Shining Armor heard over his comm frequency. He responded with a wordless battle cry as his fire incinerated another hostile.
1700 Hours, Human Alliance SBF-30 Fighter Bomber, Gold Squadron
"This is Lumbering Giant, we are beginning the attack run on the enemy starships now." Grillmar said over his comm frequency before orienting his Fighter Bomber at the massive shapes before him.
The massive Saurian was crammed into the cockpit of his craft. The SBF-30 Fighter Bomber was a lumbering giant, half again as large as an SSF- 20 it boasted a devastating armament. Instead of Pulse Phasors and Railguns, it had a triple barreled gattling Disruptor Cannon on each wingtip, they were much more powerful than interceptor weapons. The normally slow recycle time of the weapons jumped up significantly from it's rotating mounts. In addition to the powerful energy weapons it had forty nuclear rockets and six 'Brilliant' antimatter missiles. These spacecraft could decimate a capital ship.
"Entering optimal attack range." Grillmar's second seat said. The Human was very good at her job, and had managed to spoof every enemy sensor system with the SBF-30's Electronic Countermeasures. Nothing knew they were coming.
"Affirmative." Lumbering Giant grumbled as he surveyed the HUD in front of him. The threat indicator marked his target as 'Goa'uld Mothership', and it was emblazoned in red marking it as a threat.
The Saurian flipped his fire selection system to a 'Brilliant' missile and locked it on the target. The human weapons officer behind him began plotting targets on the massive vessel with her own neural link...specifying primary, secondary and tertiary targets for each of the MIRV warheads in the missile as fast as she could think them.
"GO, GO, GO!" The weapons officer ordered from her seat. Grillmar hit the firing stud and launched the missile, jinking left to avoid the flurry of incoming fire. But the shots missed as the ECM took over and spoofed the enemy weapons systems.
The 'Brilliant' missile streaked onwards through the void, completely ignored by the barrage of Goa'uld fire. Its exhaust trail specially designed to be invisible in space. The 'Brilliant' missile was a stealth weapon, made to remain invisible until the end, right up to the point when the Antimatter explosion vaporized you.
The AI brains inside the missile activated and worked on the neural commands they had received from the WO, and worked accordingly. They used their own sensor data and telemetry input to work out how to best cause the most damage within the assigned target parameters. Their database knew that a Goa'uld mothership had shielding systems and they were formidable.
Nearly instantly the AI decided to sacrifice one of it's five MIRV warheads to detonate and disrupt the shielding systems for the other four to slip through. The nosecone of the missile broke open and a single MIRV launched forward. It streaked ahead while the AI slowed the missile's approach speed enough so that the explosion would not harm the other warheads.
The single warhead streaked forward. Although it was only the size of a shoe, it boasted the destructive potential of a thermonuclear warhead. But the warhead was a 'Brilliant' warhead, and the AI system that it boasted used the sensor data to only detonate enough of an Antimatter reaction to take down the shields.
It did, and the bright flash and explosive shockwave battered down the Goa'uld mothership's shields so the other four deadly payloads could arrive. And they did, as soon as the missile entered the perimiter formed by the shields, the final four warheads jettisoned and hit their own targets.
The first headed straight at the main engine drive section, the AI re- modulating the explosive shockwave to cause a deadly feedback wave in the main engines, effectively causing the engines, then the main reactor to overload.
The second locked it self onto what the sensors earmarked as the 'Primary Weapons system coordination cluster' it was the main router for most of the major weapons on the Goa'uld ship. The Antimatter charge vaporized it and four decks.
The third warhead locked onto the main thruster package for the ship and destroyed it in a blinding flash, crippling any hope for the ship to maneuver effectively.
The fourth and final warhead targeted the bridge. It went headlong into the bridge viewport and forced it's way through the energy shield that concealed it. Then vaporized the command center, the top of the pyramid, and four other decks in one blast.
"That was good, but more boom next time." Grillmar said examining the remains of the destroyed mothership.
"Yes, sir." His weapons officer replied.
"Next."
1714 Hours Asguard O'Neill class Battleship Fanfir, Command Center
Thor watched the Human Alliance fighters make mincemeat out of the opposing enemy starfighters. They were good ships, no doubt about that. The Human Alliance knew how to build vessels for war, and they built them well. But even the best starfighters and pilots couldn't hold out forever, they were getting swarmed by the superior numbers of Covenant fighters. The starfighters were drowning in a sea of hostile craft.
"Supreme Commander. The Human Alliance fighter wings are reporting twenty five percent casualties and nearly fifty percent of their Fighter Craft have expended their projectile munitions." One of the Communications officers said. The Asguard Commander watched as a series of nuclear shockwaves destroyed a Yevetha Star Destroyer. Thor made as close an expression of a frown an Asguard could produce.
"Do they still posses adequate energy reserves?"
"Yes, Supreme Commander."
".... Order them to rotate their forces for re-supply." Thor said.
"Yes, Supreme commander."
"Supreme commander! Sensors show incoming vessels on our starboard quarter!" The sensors technician said in a very frantic tone, frantic for an Asguard that was.
"On screen." Thor ordered. The main holo viewer switched its image from the dancing starfighters to the forms of Covenant ships entering this plane of existence. It was almost a hundred Covenant warships appearing in perfect formation, it was beautiful in a sick and horrifying way. As one the hostile ships re-oriented and erected their energy shields. Points of brilliance blossomed on the hulls of the Covenant warships as their plasma weapons charged.
They were within weapons range.
"All ships fire at will." Thor ordered.
1715 Hours Human Alliance Iroquois Class Battleship 'Annihilator', Armored Command Bridge
Commodore Jimmy Trent was more than happy to oblige Supreme Commander Thor's order to open fire. He smiled with a perverse relish at the chance to destroy those that were now his enemy. He loved the idea of destroying those that had so easily butchered Sentient beings.
"Bring the Ultra Heavy Rail Cannons to bear. Each will target an individual enemy vessel. Fire on my command. All other weapons fire at will." Trent ordered. Even as he finished sheets of fire erupted from all over the 'Annihilator'. Plasma cannon, Phasor Pods, and Photo Gattling turrets opened fire illuminating the void between the opposing fleets. Smaller Rail cannons were arrayed around the perimeter of the hull and opened fire as well.
Rail cannon turrets let loose a torrent of rail gun rounds on the rate of hundreds of shells a minute. Synthetic Diamond Armor Piercing rounds, Antimatter High explosive and Plasma Incendiary shells all mixed together by AI systems to cause the optimal amount of destruction.
They had enough ammunition and energy to shred the enemy.
But the mighty hammer of the Iroquois class was it's massive Ultra Heavy Rail cannons. Boasting four of the immense weapons on individual gun turrets it had more firepower than any other ship class in the human alliance fleet. Each one was capable of accelerating a multi-ton Ultra Dense Synthetic Diamond Armor penetrating Antimatter explosive shell and half the speed of light. These guns were the big brothers to the UNSC Super MAC guns in orbit.
Each gun turret boasted it's own Fusion power plant to charge the epic rail cannon's capacitors.
Even with the wealth of power provided it was nearly three minutes between shots.
"All guns report ready sir." The weapons droid replied from its station.
Commodore Trent looked out into space. His eyes surveyed the core of the Covenant ships. Each would provide an ample demonstration for the power of the Human Alliance.
He pointed in air and the sensors on the bridge brought up targeting sensors. Trent relished the power to directly command such powerful weapons. He placed the targeting reticules over his select victims and nodded.
"Fire." Trent said.
All four cannon fired in unison. Their immense recoil making the Battleship actually rock in space. The contrails of the multi-ton projectiles - each larger than a shuttle – shone bright blue as they hurtled through space.
There was probably something funny about the Covenant attempts to move their ships fast enough to avoid the incoming enemy fire. But it was futile; organic reactions are only so good, and the ability to move that fast enough takes time to build energy. But the Covenant pilots didn't have enough time.
The gargantuan shells impacted and simply shattered the enemy shields with their tremendous velocities. Something that big, going that fast could not be stopped no matter how good your shields and armor was. The same went for the armor plating of the victim's vessels.
The alloy that the Covenant used, so effective at holding back the explosives in Archer missiles and the raw force of MAC guns...it was like wet tissue paper before a cinderblock thrown against it.
The four shells hit at the same time and their antimatter warheads detonated.
Four suns were born in the darkness of space, their brilliance and beauty something unseen by the combats. But their existence was short lived, as rapidly as they were created they dissipated, returning the darkness of space to the combatants. The rapidly expanding cloud of gasses and what little debris was the only tombstone those slaughtered Covenant warriors would ever have.
"Reload." Trent ordered and watched the hostile forces continue to advance.
1723 Hours Federation Defiant class Light Cruiser 'Gemini', The Bridge,
"Full power to the engines. Take us to heading 142 mark 23." Captain Taggerd ordered. A trickle of sweat ran down the seasoned commander's back. He knew that this was hopeless. They couldn't take down that many enemy ships, even if they did have a significant edge with that Human Alliance firepower.
The numbers game of combat was not the type he liked. He preferred the tactics game.
"Aye sir." The helmsman responded plotting a course that was directly into the heart of the Covenant formation. No, Taggerd was not going to play kamikaze, but he was going to get in close enough to negate any of those Plasma weapons that the Covenant used. The Defiant class was maneuverable and it was lethal if he could get it in close.
Taggerd watched the main view screen for a moment, then diverted his attention to his smaller tactical display that showed the vessels in the formations. Another Defiant Light Cruiser, a pair of Fek'Lhr heavy cruisers an Asguard O'Neill battleship were moving into an attack formation behind him.
Captain Taggerd squinted and examined the Covenant vessels. They were charging weapons, and if they didn't get in fast enough they were going to be vaporized by that soon to be born volley of plasma fire.
"Maximum Impulse. Squeeze whatever you can from the reactor." Taggerd ordered. The helmsman nodded and began entering in commands.
The Captain was grimacing as the speed of the 'Gemini' increased noticeably. Come on...faster...
The flares of Covenant plasma weapons reached a brilliant climax on their hulls. The dazzling red energy coalesced and condensed into the deadly, guided orbs of Covenant Plasma weapons. Taggerd had never seen them before...it was terrifying.
To see those ships all spewing forth such a deadly barrage was frightening on a level that Captain Taggerd had never experienced. They were going to die if he froze up.
"Push it now." Taggerd snarled watching the sphere of red coherent plasma streaming straight towards the main viewport. The 'Gemini' squeezed out whatever reluctant reserves of thrust it could and darted around the massive globe of plasma. The ship rocked uneasily and the temperature on the bridge flared briefly, sweat beading Taggerd's forehead.
"Dorsal shields down to fifteen percent." Tactical said.
"Other damage?" Taggerd asked.
"None sir."
"Other ships status?" Taggerd asked of those that had been following.
"The Klingon vessels 'Shel'l Mock' and 'Hig'dahr' are still behind us. The 'Orion' was grazed and it's shields are down, they can still fly though....but...oh god..." The Operations officer said but trailed off.
"What?" Taggerd asked.
"The Asguard ship 'Valhalla' is gone. It was vaporized sir..." The Operations officer said slomenly. He shook his head lightly. Taggerd was shocked. The Asguard had such advanced technology, their shielding was nearly perfect...nothing could have taken it down in one shot.
"What happened to it?" Taggerd asked.
"No less than...twenty Covenant Plasma rounds impacted the vessel. It didn't stand a chance." Operations replied.
Taggerd frowned. Nothing could have survived that hellstorm.
"Full power to shields and engines. Prime the Pulse Phasors and arm the Quantum Torpedoes. Let's send some Covenant to hell for the crew of the 'Valhalla'." Taggerd said returning his gaze to the Covenant ships.
"Sir." Tactical replied, the officer's hands dancing over the controls with practiced speed and accuracy. Taggerd picked out his first victim. Hopefully the first of many...
Hopefully first of a great many enemy ships to die today.
1950 Hours – Battle +3 Hours, Asguard O'Neill class Battleship 'Fanfir', Command Center
Thor had abandoned observing through the main view screens and changed to a three dimensional hologram of the battle. His eyes were not good enough to pick out the individual engagements in this brawl. Now he needed the computer systems and holographics to properly command his forces.
He'd abandoned command of the 'Fanfir' and left it to it's Captain, technically he was in charge, but he had too much to concern himself with at this point.
Much too much.
Nine of the O'Neill class Battleships he commanded were in flames. That was the single largest defeat in battle the Asguard had ever suffered. He'd pulled the 'Fanfir' out of the line, but he couldn't afford to be overly protective of the other eleven ships he commanded. Those vessels were dueling with the newest wave of Covenant vessels that had arrived.
Covenant tactics were simple, but brutally effective. The main element that had come in first was their center in space. More of the Covenant's allied vessels had come in to reinforce their positions and throw more starfighters into the fray. The first assault force had been the right wing of the Covenant assault. Another hour brought a like force against the left flank of the Coalition forces. The Covenant were fighting to envelop the defenders, using their inability to move to their advantage.
"All weapons engage the Death glider wing at quadrant twenty-three E, port quarter." One of the coordinators on the bridge ordered over the constant sounds of communication and frantic commands.
The Human Alliance fighters were severely reduced in number now. The sheer numbers of Covenant fighters had overwhelmed their opponents. There were still Fighters and Fighter Bombers flying around, but they were concentrating their efforts at defending the Human Alliance Iroquois class Battleship. It was by far the most powerful ship in the fleet, and if it went down the defense would surely fail.
The four guns of the Battleship fired again, sweeping four more clusters of Covenant vessels from space. They were brutally efficient destroyers. The rest of the Human Alliance fleet remained huddled around their massive brother, their anti-starfighter weapons blazing away at the fighters attempting to destroy the Battleship. With increasing regularity the rail cannons that the smaller ships boasted would open fire and perforate a Covenant ship moving in for the attack.
Another volley of Covenant Plasma fire rolled through space, being answered by a barrage of Nuclear Rockets from the Human Alliance. The weapons detonated and their shockwaves dissipated the plasma. But the Covenant had a near limitless supply of plasma...and the Human Alliance only had a finite supply of Rockets. Soon, the Plasma was going to start hitting.
"Supreme Commander Thor." A human voice asked. Thor turned to the main viewscreen and saw a human in a jumpsuit on the screen. Beneath the image read 'Captain Edwards: United Nations Star Command', he was one of the UNSC commanders that made up the remnants of the UNSC fleet.
"Yes Captain?"
"We're tracking incoming Covenant ships headed towards the poles. I think they're moving in to start landing ground troops." Edwards said flatly.
"Do what you can Captain, much of the fleet is engaged." Thor replied.
"Yes Supreme Commander. The UNSC will do what we can on our own." Edwards replied.
Thor nodded. The UNSC had taken a massive battering fighting off four other thrusts towards the planet. The last Covenant assault had drowned in starship coolant and choked on MAC rounds. But this defense was coming at a high cost, of the 89 UNSC vessels that remained they were down to 31. This was a vicious fight. The UNSC was not going to go down without a fight and they were fighting tooth and nail to kill every Covenant ship they could.
More than one UNSC vessel had self destructed and taken out Covenant vessels in it's death throws when near destruction.
Thor looked at the smoldering ruins of UNSC, Federation, Klingon and Human Alliance... and even Asguard vessels adrift in space. Thor had been right, they were equal and united in battle, and in death.
2000 Hours, UNSC Cruiser 'Robert E Lee', Command Deck
Captain Edwards coughed at the light smoke permeating the air. The explosion of crewman Henderson's navigation console had been spectacular after a Coral Skipper strafing run. Sending the poor crewman to the medbay with a foot long shard of plastic sticking out of his throat. He wasn't going to make it.
Well, neither were the rest of the crew, so he wasn't going to be alone for long.
"Sir, Covenant vessels incoming." The AI responded from it's holo tank. Red blips began to flood the screen once more, and there were so few blue blips to oppose them.
"Charge the MAC guns and arm all remaining Archer missile pods." Edwards ordered.
"Sir, all chain gun ammunition is depleted. We have no anti-fighter capacity. All Longsword interceptors have been destroyed as well." The AI informed him.
"Well...I don't think it will be an issue for much longer." Edwards said.
"All weapons ready." The AI finished its tone grim.
"Incoming." Operations said softly. Outside in space, they could see them incoming. Those smooth and flowing shapes of Covenant warships emerging from Slipspace. Their formation perfect and unchanged as they emerged. There was something wrong about how well they could maneuver...of course he'd been briefed on how well the Covenant could maneuver...but it was just wrong.
"All ships fire at will. Take as many of them down as you can...send them to hell." Edwards said and nodded at the AI.
A pair of dull ringing thuds reverberated through the Cruiser. Two glowing MAC rounds launched through space and towards the Covenant attackers. Along with these two others flew through the void. The last ragged volley some of these ships would ever fire.
The motley barrage slammed into the Covenant attackers and sent many of them to their fiery destruction. Some last act of vengeance for those that were about to die. Somehow, after so long it wasn't a shock they were going to die. It was the Covenant...they always won.
"Not today...they're going to die today." Edwards said grimly.
"Covenant weapons charging." The AI said. The hulls of over a hundred Covenant warships began to alight with plasma strings, the red lines glowing in the darkness.
They were going to die...all of them.
"Full power ahead. Fire all Archer missiles...and set the reactor to self destruct on my command." Edwards said.
2019 Hours Asguard O'Neill Class Battleship 'Fanfir' Command Center
Thor watched with a string as the UNSC ships went down in a blaze of glory, their sacrifices earning them admiration from any warrior this day. They had died willingly; they had died fighting the enemy that was pushing their people towards extinction. They did not want to do so, but they so readily gave their lives.
"Heroes." Thor murmured as he watched the expanding shockwave from the detonation of the 'Robert E Lee's fusion reactor.
"Supreme commander....I have more incoming..."
"Where, and what?" Thor snapped. More reinforcements weren't worth his notice now. There were already too many Covenant for his remaining forces to handle. Plus the Covenant were already landing ground troops on Earth. The space battle was all but lost, the ground campaign might go better...but without space superiority it was already over.
"They're coming in from the opposite direction of the main Covenant armada. They appear to be Yevethan ships. At least the design pattern matches most of the Yevetha designs we have..." The sensor operator answered.
"What do you mean?"
"Well, they look like Yevetha ships, but their Identification signals paint them as something else."
"What?"
"They're broadcasting as being 'Imperial' ships..."
2017 Hours Imperial Super Star Destroyer 'Thrawn', Main Bridge
Grand Admiral Kurrs Anjek stood before the transperisteel viewports and watched the bright lines of hyperspace travel. His cold, shallow eyes glared out from behind a pair of specticals. Their dark pits not eluding to any emotion on his part. His spotless white uniform of Grand Admiral was worn on his thin, bony seven-foot tall frame.
He clasped his black leather gloved hands rested at the small of his back, a grell wood cane held in one, the end of the cane tapping the small of his back ever so lightly.
"Time?" Grand Admiral Anjek asked.
"One minute Grand Admiral." A gray uniformed officer said.
"Good. Order all crewmen to battle stations and have all fighter wings ready for combat." Anjek ordered.
"Yes, Grand Admiral."
Anjek turned on his heel from the main bridge viewport and strode down the elevated walk that looked down on the bridge crewmen on either side of him. He walked determinedly, his footfalls clanging on the durasteel deckplates loudly in the otherwise silent bridge.
His steps took him to his command chair situated at the end of the walk. He sat down and felt ever so much like a feudal lord surveying his subjects. Anjek always found such a position distasteful. He never liked being a commander, he much preferred being a leader.
And right now he was leading his fleet into harms way. This battle was supposed to be larger than Endor, larger than Bilbringi, larger than Ithor. This was going to be the largest battle he had ever commanded. And that was why he was taking the hundred and fifty vessels of the rebuilt Imperial Fleet into battle.
Grand Admiral Kurrs Anjek held the position of being one of the most powerful commanders in the remains of the New Order. Ever since the war with the New Republic had ended, he had strove towards re-building Imperial naval assets decimated from the decades of conflict. At first there had been much discord amongst the remaining Moffs, but the Yuuhzan Vong invasion had proven Anjek right.
He'd been promoted to the rank of Grand Admiral...the first Grand Admiral since Thrawn, and had been given supreme command of the Imperial Navy. He still answered to Supreme Commander Palleaon of course, but he was loyal to the New Order – or what remained of it.
Now he had been tasked with one of the greatest commands he would ever have to carry out.
Defeat the Covenant, and exact vengeance against the Vong for Ithor...and all the atrocities they had committed.
"Emerging from hyperspace in four...three.... two...one..." One of the technicians said aloud. As he finished one, the starfield before him reverted into glistening diamonds on black felt. Far beneath him, two opposing fleets dueled in space. Explosions and weapons fire stitched back and forth between them.
"Redress the lines and prepare for engagement." Anjek ordered.
"Sir."
"Open a comm to the Covenant fleet." Anjek ordered. A small beep informed him that the line was open, and the translation software was working.
"This message is to every warrior in the Covenant Fleet. I am Grand Admiral Kurrs Anjek, Supreme Commander of the Imperial Navy. I have come to this field today to exact vengeance for all the crimes you and your servants have committed. The list of murder and destruction is to large to read aloud, but you know the crimes you have committed." Anjek said evenly, his voice dripping with rage and fury that made him such a vicious opponent.
"I give you a warning according to the rules of war. No prisoners shall be taken by Imperial forces, no surrendering ships shall be given quarter, and no wounded shall be given treatment; any prisoners we take shall be executed, any ships surrendering shall be destroyed. I inform you that your only way to survive is to run from this battle." Anjek said.
"And you may only retreat with the permission of the Imperial Navy." Anjek finished and had the com line cut.
"Open a line to the commanding ship of this engagement." Anjek said. A holo appeared in front of him of an unfamiliar alien. Anjek's eyebrow arched slightly, but he thought nothing of it. He was not of the 'old breed' of Imperials. Humans and aliens could fight and die just the same; blaster bolts don't make distinctions.
"I am Supreme Commander Thor, acting commander of the Coalition forces at Earth." The alien said.
"I am Grand Admiral Kurrs Anjek, Supreme Commander of the Imperial Navy. Supreme Commander Thor, I am here at the orders of my superiors and the request of the New Republic." Anjek said.
"I trust they shall arrive soon?" Thor asked.
"Unfortunately that is why we are here. The New Republic fleet is far more spread out than my forces. They will arrive in a day's time. The New Republic requested that we come and assist until they and the Coalition forces arrive tomorrow." Anjek said.
"And will you assist?"
"The honor of the Imperial Fleet demands nothing less Supreme Commander Thor." Anjek replied.
"Thank you Grand Admiral. The people of this world shall be forever in your debt." Thor said.
Anjek nodded and cut the comm.
"All fighters launch. All gun crews fire at will. Kill them...kill all of them." Anjek said looking out of the bridge. His eyes glaring out at his foes...his opponents that were already dead.
They just didn't know it yet.
2053 Hours, Covenant Assault Carrier 'Nightmare', Command Deck
Fleet Commander Lit'Kindame was not pleased. In the grand scheme of things, they were going to win. These primates couldn't hope to force back the raw numbers of the Covenant Armada arrayed against them. Even the new subjects vessels were killing the enemy. It was only a matter of time before the last vestiges of the enemy were wiped from the stars.
But it was coming at a terrible cost. These new Human allies were much more powerful than the primates they were originally fighting. Their weapons were strong and their shields were difficult to overcome, and they were cunning...
Losses were estimated at almost three hundred Covenant vessels were lost and over nine hundred allied ships had been destroyed. These humans had managed to put up quite a furious defense in the face of superior numbers.
The most unsettling part was that the increasingly high numbers of casualties were being caused by the newest arrivals. In the past half cycle almost a hundred ships had been destroyed by the 'Imperials', their commander was very good.
"Fleet Commander, the enemy ships just jumped again!" One of the command Elites said.
These 'Imperials' knew how to fight. The Fleet Commander watched as ten of the large, triangle shaped ships seemed to jump hundreds of units in an eye blink and reappear far beyond the plasma orbs that were about to destroy them. Their green energy cannons opened fire and destroyed another five ships before they could even react.
Kindame swore vividly as he watched the destruction being wrought upon his fleet.
At this rate...he was going to lose this battle...
2056 Hours, SSF-20 Fighter, Shining Armor
Shining Armor was fighting for his life. He had been inside this cockpit for the past four hours. He'd run out of Rail cannon ammunition, missiles and rockets long ago. He'd also caught plenty of plasma fire and he needed to get repaired soon. But there wasn't time and he had to stay in this fight. Now he was using pulse phasers and trying to take down a flight of Al'kreesh bombers auguring in on the Federation Sovereign class Battleship 'Dumbeldore'. His pulse phasers weren't able to get through the Goa'uld shields.
""Dumbeldore' I can't get them...brace for incoming fire!" Shining Armor shouted over the comms line.
"Need a hand?" A voice shot back. Shining Armor wasn't in the mood for jokes at this point, but he was shocked as ten lethal looking fighters swept past his wounded slow moving fighter and decended upon the slow moving enemy bombers. Their sharply angled fins and sleek lines made them look much more predatory than his wounded fighter.
The new arrivals finished off the enemy bombers and fell with the SSF- 20.
"Human alliance pilot 'Shining Armor', we're Tie Interceptor flight 'Dagger' you can fall back for repairs if you want. Human Alliance is trying to pull assets back for refuel, re-armament and repairs. We're here to cover you." A human voice came across the comm.
"No can do Dagger flight, my place is in battle."
"Then we're with you Shining armor."
"Let's kill some Covies then."
2100 Hours, Klingon Battleship 'IKV Hqar'Clk' Bridge
"We're loosing control systems. Main power is failing. Life support is in danger of failing. Weapons systems inoperable." The ops officer shouted over the sounds of warning alarms. The haze in the bridge was getting too thick to see through, and almost thick enough to cause some problems to breath, even for a Klingon.
"Do I still have guns?" Captain Quog demanded.
"Barely Captain."
"Then keep firing!" Quog ordered. He glared through the smoke and fires towards the main screen, it was still working...barely.
"Ramming speed towards that Covenant ship! We'll ram them and board them." Quog ordered.
"Yes Captain."
The nearly crippled 'Hqar'Clk' lumbered towards the Covenant warship. It was barely moving, but the Covenant ship was close enough to ram. It couldn't move out of the way fast enough.
The gap was closed rapidly and the massive wounded beast that was the Klingon Battleship slammed into the Covenant ship.
"We have contact!" The ops officer shouted.
"Divert all power to tractor beams. I don't want these cowards going anywhere. Then, extend the boarding tubes and order all hands to participate in the boarding action." Quog said.
"Yes Captain."
"We shall slaughter these cowards and bring honor to our house this day!" Quog shouted with pleasure. He turned and headed off the bridge, the remaining crewmen that were alive filed along with him. The 'Hqar'Clk' had taken a tremendous amount of damage as it tangled with a Yuuhzan Vong asteroid ship and a pair of Goa'uld Motherships. It had barely been flying without the miracle work done by the ships engineers.
Now the ship was probably serving it's final duty. It's name would be honored.
The marching Klingons carried their curved Bat'leths and disruptors. This was going to be a bloody boarding action.
"We have not yet begun to fight brothers. Death to our foes." Quog ordered as they reached the boarding tube. It ran out of the ship and into the hull of the Covenant ship. At the bottom a neat hole had been punched through and a few Elite heads could be seen.
With a blood curdling war cry the Klingons charged forward through the boarding tube, their howls of battle more than enough to instill fear in the hearts of the bravest foe. And this charge thundered in the confined boarding tube.
The warriors ran on, oblivious to the fact that they were running to their own deaths. They simply ran on into the muzzles of the Covenant plasma rifles. Blue and green plasma fire traded off with disruptor fire as the two opposing forces.
With a single bloody slam the warriors decended into vicious hand-to- hand combat. Bat'leth and Plasma swords clashed in the melee as the most primitive and ancient of all forms of combat was played out between the two warrior races.
2359 Hours Super Star Destroyer 'Thrawn' Command Bridge
Grand Admiral Anjek stood and surveyed the utter devastation that hung in space before him. Hundreds of ships spun through space in slow arcs. The complete and total slaughter that had transpired this day was something unseen since the Clone Wars.
A million beings had perished in this space battle alone.
It had been wholesale slaughter. The Covenant fleet had been devastated. Their ships were swept from the sky in the confrontation.
And now it was over...at a tremendous Coalition cost.
Only the Sovereign class Battleships 'Ashkhan' and 'Dumbledore' remained in service from the Federation detachment. The Klingon ships had been destroyed entirely. The crew of the 'IKV Hqar'Clk' had captured a Covenant Cruiser but that was the extent of the Klingon forces.
The Human Alliance fleet had been decimated. Only the Viper Class Heavy Carrier 'Olerind' and the Iroquois Class Battleship 'Annihilator' remained from their flotilla, and a mere handful of fighters had survived the long engagement.
The Asguard....
Nineteen of their ships had been destroyed. Only the Battleship 'Fanfir' remained. Every other Asguard vessel was vaporized, the Covenant had been very systematic with their destruction of the Asguard and Human Alliance vessels.
The UNSC fleet was gone. Not a single ship remained. They had been completely wiped off this plane of existence. But they hadn't died hopelessly, the 83 UNSC ships and 40 USCM ships had taken 293 Covenant vessels to hell with them. They'd smashed three separate pushes towards the planet and severely reduced the Covenant ground forces.
But there were troops on the planet.
Grand Admiral Anjek had ordered four stormtrooper Legions and five army groups down to the planet in support of the Coalition troops that were already on planet. The Covenant troops weren't going to last long down there.
Anjek watched the tumbling ships in space and frowned. This was why he loathed war. So many dead.
"It must be so horrific that we do not become fond of it." Anjek said aloud as he watched the silent monuments to the dead hurtle through the void.
"Grand Admiral. The Covenant prisoners are here." The Stormtrooper Colonel that stood behind him said.
"Bring the vermin in." Anjek snarled. The Colonel nodded and the blast doors at the rear of the bridge opened with a hiss. As Anjek turned he spotted the Covenant warriors being drug into the chamber.
Ten Klingons were half carrying, half dragging the three struggling prisoners down the walkway. Two squads of stormtroopers walked along behind them, agitated at the fact ten, barbaric looking warriors armed to the teeth were walking into the presence of an Imperial Grand Admiral.
The Klingon warriors looked haggard, tired and beaten. One had a slow flow of pinkish blood trailing from his chest. All of them carried wicked looking curved blades that were thickly coated with purple and blue Covenant blood.
The three Elites were drug, and then tossed at Anjeks feet. All three wore pieces of the Golden armor of a high commander. A protocol droid walked forward and stood next to Anjek as the Grand Admiral scowled down at the broken and bleeding foes before him.
One of the elites snarled something incomprehensible.
"He states that we shall all be destroyed as the will of the Gods." The droid supplied. Anjek stood there, his scowl pronounced and his eyes glaring death. He brought his cane back and slammed it into the side of the Elite's head. A soft crack sounded as the hard grell wood connected with the Elite's mandibles. The shackled warrior fell to the side and was roughly picked back up by one of the Klingons.
"I think not." Anjek said shortly then let the droid translate. The Elite growled and responded quickly.
"He states that we are already dead and that this temporary set back shall not halt the prophets."
"I did not bring him here for interrogation. I am returning you to your ship, it's weapons and shields have been disabled. Your crew has been executed and you are the minimum needed to pilot the craft. You are to carry a message to your commanders." Anjek said with a snarl.
The Elite grunted back a reply.
"He inquires as to what this message is."
"You're all going to die. By the honor and name of the Imperial Navy you shall pay for all your crimes. Not just the crimes you have committed, but also those of your servants and slaves. You shall be forced to provide the blood that you have taken from so many peoples in your long string of atrocities."
"There will be no trials, there will be no investigations. The rules of war do not apply to you. We will bomb your planets with weapons, with gases and biological weapons, we will drop nuclear warheads upon your cities. We will reduce your planets to molten rock. There will be no surrender. There will be only death." Anjek said with soft deadliness.
And...chapter. Yes, I did use the Empire as a 'good guy' but the Yuuhzan Vong situation kinda made the Empire and the New Republic closer...and yes I probably made the Imperial fleet a whole lot stronger than normal...but it's fiction.
Well, that was the titanic space battle, but not the last... Next chapter gets to see some ground combat. Coming up a little sooner;
Chapter 10: How to wage war, Coalition style.