UNSC Heavy Carrier Saratoga

1204 Hours 5.1.2551

Saratoga was a magnificent ship, it sported two MAC guns, over five hundred launch tubes for Archer anti-ship missiles, and could carry fifty-five Longsword fighters, and ten Pelican dropships. She also carried two thousand marines, four Scorpion tanks, and twenty Warthogs. It's fifteen meters of prime Titanium-A armor made it virtually indestructable. It was the flagship of the largest fleet assembled since Admiral Cole's victory over Harvest; it consisted of ten frigates, eight destroyers, five Marathon-class Cruisers, and the Saratogaherself.

Admiral William "Bill" Halsey, a descendant of the legendary WWII admiral "Bull" Halsey, stood on the bridge. He tapped into a all-ships COM and began to speak.

"Ladies and gentleman, in a few hours, you will take part in the greatest battle since Trafalgar, as part of the largest fleet since Harvest; combined, we have thirty-two MAC guns, and almost six thousand Archer missile pods. We have more firepower than Nelson at the Nile, Nimitz at Midway, and Eishenhower at Normandy, combined. We cannot fail, and we must not fail. That is all. Halsey out."

Halsey turned to Captain Lightoller, "Power up MAC guns, send all firing times, the Covenant should be here soon."

A few anxious minutes passed, ONI had determined that the Covenant were going to attack the New Ireland sector after stopping to regroup at Halsey's position. If the plan worked, the Covenant would lose an entire armada.

"Sir, Covenant ships inbound, vector five-two-seven-alpha! Twelve hundred kilometers."

"Launch fighters, seal off the bridge, battlestations!" Halsey barked.

Several dozen Covenant ships could be seen distantly. Three Covenant carriers, five cruisers, and at least twenty frigates and destroyers. The fleet was bigger than expected. This was going to be rough.

Halsey's plan was simple, the larger ships with multiple MAC guns would fire first, using their firepower to tear down the enemy's shields, the frigates would then join in for a knockout blow, this left no room for error.

"Fire!"

Twenty-two balls of white fire erupted from the fleet's guns, sending six hundred ton projectile flying at nearly half the speed of light. They struck the Covenant ships with amazing force, several rounds hit the nearest carrier, knocking out its shields, several cruisers and destroyers were helpless. Ten more rounds hit the unprotected hulls. The carrier was gutted form hall to stern, as several frigates and destroyers exploded violently. The UNSC fleet then launched a flood of Archer missiles, several more frigates and a cruiser blew up, other ships had half-depleted shields. The first barrage had knocked out almost a third of the enemy fleet.

Red glows could be seen from the Covenant plasma turrets, as hundreds of Seraph fighters emerged from the surviving carriers'.

"Admiral," an officer at the Saratoga's nav station said. "Covenant plasma torpedoes to hit in fifteen seconds."

"All ships hold position," Halsey replied. "Brace for impact, and fire on schedule."

"Aye sir."

Four bolts of plasma struck the Saratoga, as others hit the rest of the fleet, two frigates and a destroyer exploded.

"Damage report," Lightoller asked,

"Decks A and C breached at four points, depressurisation in Sector A8."

"Get everybody out of those sectors, depressurise all unnecessary sectors and vent to space."

"Aye Aye sir.!"

Twenty MAC guns fired at the surviving Covenant ships. Both the surviving carriers and a CCS-class cruiser were knocked shieldless; two frigates were destoryed. Eight more MACs fired and both the carriers, two destroyers, and a cruiser exploded.

The surviving Covies opended fire, two torpedos struck, vaporising sections of Titanium-A, the bridge shook with each impact. The remaining UNSC crusiers and a frigate were knocked out as more plama hit the Saratogaamidships.

"Damage report!"

"Admiral Halsey, Captain Lightoller!" A paniced crewman yelled. "Number two MAC gun offline! Repeat, number two MAC gun offline!"

"All ships fire Archers!"

Another barrage of Archers and MAC rounds struck the enemy fleet, only half a dozen frigates and destroyers remained. The Saratoga's rear exploded.

Officers and enlisted men on the bridge screamed as fireballs engulfed them, Halsey and Lightholler were thrown to the ground. Lightholler received a concussion and a few broken ribs, Halsey wasn't so lucky.

Lightholler struggled to his feet and surveyed what was left of his fleet. It was just the Saratogaand a pair of bady damaged destroyers, the Blücher and the Iroquis, under Commander Keyes.

"All ships, prepared to retreat."

FleetComm, Planet Reach

1839 Hours 7.1.2551

"So Admiral Halsey is dead?"

"I'm afraid so, sir."

Fleet Admiral Sir Terence Hood stared out the window of his office on Reach. An entire fleet had been destroyed, the problem was, so was theirs. Now, Halsey was dead. But New Irelandhad been saved.

"No,"Hood thought. "They'll be back, next time we won't be able to stop them. Borrowed time, that's it, borrowed time.