The Price of Victory
A Fanfiction by Keystone
Disclaimer: Nothing of the Halo universe is my property. The seven rings, forerunners, various races, UNSC, Spartans, and all the technology and ships within are products of Bungie. All those, except for what you know to be mine.
Author's Note: Well, for those of you diligent to me, I have written Halo stories before. Good luck finding them, however. This time around, I believe I have come up with something truly remarkable. I hope you all enjoy.
Eyes Only:
Mission Clearance required
From: UNSC Admiral Matthew Carone
To: All UNSC and Convert personnel assigned to Operation Charon
Gentlemen, the war has reached a turning point. We have new allies and a resolved force. The remaining Covenant hostiles have been stranded and left confused. Now is the time to launch a decisive offensive against them, and take back what is ours: survival. Our fleets are strong. Our numbers are legion. Our will is unbreakable. We shall not be denied. Rise, soldiers of the human race, and push back the aggressors with all the might of your species. May God bless you on your journey and grant you the power to crush the Covenant.
End Transmission
Eyes Only:
Briefing details and orders
From: AI Lajon
To: All UNSC and Convert personnel assigned to Operation Charon
For those of you who have been under rocks for the last few weeks, this is the scoop: The Covenant has broken. After discovering the full extent of the Prophets betrayals, the Elites, supplemented by the Grunts and the Hunters, staged an all out rebellion and defected from their former masters.
Switching their title to the Converts, they, under the direction of the Elite known as the "Arbiter", have decided to join our cause with the intent of crushing the Prophets, and their Brute allies. The alliance is on the terms of common enemies, and they have agreed to a complete cease fire between their forces and ours. We all will be able to benefit from this unity, and should we defeat the remaining Covenant forces, continued peace will be assured.
Since the appearance of the Ark over the Earth in the last stand battle six months ago, we have had more time to build up our fleets again and raise our armies from the ashes. When approached by the Elites with their offer, we accepted. Thanks to some very careful negotiations overseen by Sergeant Major Avery Johnson, the Arbiter agreed to lend his, and therefore the full scope of the Convert army, to ours. Our goal now is to locate both the renegade Ark, and the remaining five Halo rings. Once we can locate either of the Ark, we can capture the Prophet of Truth and force the fight on our terms. Should we manage to discover the final rings, we can remove their threats by retrieving each respective Index and disabling their fire controls.
Now the tides have turned, and the Covenant now has to fight against a force of equal might and numbers. And we have the advantage of the full rage of the Elites to complement our warriors. The fleets have been bolstered, and the troops have been stirred. Like a roaring fire we shall sweep across the stars and purge them of this great evil, and remove their threat once and for all.
Under UNSC command, I have prepared a list for all in the fleet regarding the chain of command and new battlefield procedures. You would all do well to pay close attention and commit this doctrine to memory.
Operation Charon Fleet Chain of command:
Frost of Ages: Fleet flagship, and Convert controlled. This seven kilometer dreadnaught has combated whole Brute fleets on its own. She and her Ship Master are forces to be feared.
Iron Respite: Human forces central command ship. Nine kilometers long and bristling with power, she is a beast of unrivaled destruction.
Searing Templar: Six kilometers of Convert Carrier housing the most battle hardened Convert warriors, it has tactical command of thousand of individual aces.
Donalbain: This seven kilometer cruiser is home to human fleets primary nuclear arsenal. Containing enough high explosive nuclear technology to crack worlds, she is the fist of the fleet.
Rainmaker: Home of the two Spartans assigned to the fleet, and a legion of special forces soldiers, this four kilometer destroyer will drop down on the Covenant and wash them away.
Undaunted: A fearless captain with a reckless reputation is the brain of the two kilometers of might in this ship. Always on the front lines, her and her crew will never back away form a fight.
Fields of Gold: An unusual craft, this Elite stealth recon vessel is the smallest Convert capitol ship, but a specific mission keeps it well away from the front.
Orion's Arrow: An interceptor destroyer, this fast attack platform is always at the right place to lend a hand.
In total, this fleet is comprised of 43 separate ships, with 14 being Human and 29 being Convert. The primary purpose of mixing the types of craft is to maximize firepower. As plasmatic weaponry is very good at disabling shielding, it will be common procedure for Convert craft to bombard an enemies fleet with plasmatic torpedoes and then for the Human craft to attack with precision sniping using Magnetic Acceleration Cannons. Of course the Convert craft will continue to fire after shielding has been destroyed to continue to maximize damage. By the nature of plasma batteries and their unlimited ammunition, they will comprise the bulk of the heavy weapons, whilst the extremely high velocity MAC rounds possess the superb ability to cause physical damage once a hit is assured.
Conversely, the human fleet will be carrying a large number of nuclear ordnance. A remotely fired and detonated nuclear weapon will overload several enemy ships shielding simultaneously. After which a wave of plasma can just burn through the enemies craft.
Each Human vessel carries a sizeable number of rounds for their primary MAC cannon, with the average frigate holding 47 heavy rounds, and a number of pods containing thirty or more Archer missiles. Each ship will also have a variety of other weapons, such as 50mm auto-cannons, mine dispensers, and others. However, due to the ballistic nature of human weaponry, only a limited store of ammunition can be maintained. Two human factory and mining ships will join in this fleet to keep up the production and shipping of explosive and ballistic shells. Primarily, Convert craft handle the most intensive fighting and human craft doing sniping and providing fire support.
In a noncombatant role, several repair and refit craft with schematics for all the ships in the fleet will join them to provide essential services.
As always, it is extremely important that Convert Ship Masters and Human commanders keep their systems linked through AI and computer coordination. Firing on friendly craft is quite the bad idea, and casualties due to it and totally unacceptable.
Order of Battle Protocol:
As stated above, Convert craft have tactical command of space engagements and take priority roles. Human craft will remain in the center of formations until the engagement is over or retreat is completed. Once ship to ship combat has been completed, however, Human commanders will assume command of ground combat.
In ground conflicts, our forces will deploy the Grunts, Hunters, Elites, and Marines under our command. Additionally, we will also deploy armor, fixed heavy munitions, and air support. The sole purpose of this combined effort is to insure complete and total victory.
High Command has gone through all of our combined assets and has designed specific mission parameters for each aspect of our infantry. They have looked over the abilities and individual uses for all of the types of soldiers and have presented this mission scheme:
Grunts shall form the core number of any assault. With ferocity in numbers, they will excel at rushing attacks and charges, and will be able to absorb enemy fire while still throwing their whole might at them.
Human infantry will work best as shock troopers. Lightning fast insertions and a tenacious combat style for all assaults will provide many opportunities for them to harm the Covenant. Additionally they are quite good at securing and holding ground with superior discipline and tactical intelligence.
Elite warriors will fill similar roles as Human soldiers, but with a wider scope of acceptable missions. Their greater physical resilience and agility will give them a greater opportunity on the field of battle to live longer and do more damage. Capable of many tasks and battlefield duties, the Elites will be deciding soldiers in many battles to come.
Hunter pairs are going to fill a very important mission role in our fight. Essentially highly mobile artillery that comes in twos, the Hunter pairs will be deployed in large numbers to facilitate crushing any opposition. They will function in situations where bringing in heavy armor is prohibitive, such as in clearing hot landing zones and other situations. Their amazing toughness and ability to destroy is an invaluable asset. Additionally they have shown themselves to be resistant to the Flood.
Notes on Flood combat:
Due to the fact that much of our operations will take place on the Halo rings, combat with the Flood is a matter of when, instead of if. Because of the extreme nature of the Flood meta-organism, very strict protocol must be enforce when they are encountered. These are in place to prevent the Flood from capturing and killing personnel and securing vehicles and ordnance. If followed, they should provide the most effective means of surviving encounter with them.
The forces deployed on the ground in the area where the Flood has been discovered is to immediately sterilize their area by way of fire and call for an immediate evacuation. All soldiers who have survived are to rewarded and then removed from active combat to be screened for Flood spores. Following that, a joint combat force will be sent to the location with three primary objectives.
The first objective is to finish the primary goal of the previous groups mission as quickly as possible. Unless the Flood infestation or hostile forces are to great, they should be able to proceed to the objective and secure it with relative ease.
The second objective is to exterminate any and all Flood forms they encounter. This means burning all discovered bodies of dead allied soldiers as well. Converted Flood forms must also be burned or severed of all limbs as well. This is all to prevent the Flood from securing any kind of offensive measures.
The third, and most important objective of this force is to locate the library of the installation and secure the Index. This must happen as swiftly as possible to prevent hostile Covenant forces from locating the Index and then firing the Halo. If they are allowed to do this, then all living things will perish.
When pursuing the Index, or simply in anti-Flood operations, all soldiers must meet specific requirements. They must possess either full body shielding, like the Elites, or full body covering vacuum sealed armor, similar to the Mjolnir armor worn by the Spartans. These combat teams must also consist of at least two members. These soldiers are also responsible for their own lives and equipment. If imminent capture or death by the Flood is likely, then the soldier must accept the duty to take his own life with a bullet to the brain or similar injury. If a hosts nervous system is destroyed, then the Flood organism is not capable of using it as a Flood form.
Once the Index has been recovered, all attention must be placed on exfiltrating it from the surface of Halo. It shall be placed under the highest security and then held in the center of the fleet. If it appears that it will be soon captured by enemy hands, it must be destroyed.
If captured, then the strongest soldiers will be assigned to go and retake it immediately, while heavy infantry support is placed in the control room to defend it from the attackers. Failing all this, if the Halo is about to be fired, then the ring must be destroyed. All Flood spores are to be burned into ashes and all hostiles should join them. Care should be taken to capture the Monitor of the installation, as having it will speed the process of locating and retrieving the Index.
General Notes:
All soldiers are o be reminded that when on Halo, nothing is ever secure. The entire ring is a combat zone and thus all necessary precautions will be taken. No area is totally safe unless within an established and manned friendly base. Even still, be prepared at all times. The only truly secure ground is the ground you're standing on.
If possible, always travel in groups of at least two, and never go anywhere unarmed. Above all, never move alone. It is better to die in numbers under enemy guns than to alone be ravaged by the parasite.
Stay vigilant for Prophets, be they the Prophet of Truth, or even lesser ones, capture them if possible, but kill them otherwise. Enemy Drones and Jackals may be captured if they surrender, but all Brutes are to be slaughtered. None can be allowed to live.
In non combat situations, Humans and Converts will instruct each other on how to properly use each others various technology. Marines will teach Converts how to use and care for Human ordnance, and Convert soldiers will do the same. Basic vehicle instruction will also be taught all soldiers. However, only certain Elites and Humans will be taught to use specific pieces of equipment. Only Humans of Corporal rank or higher will be taught to pilot a Banshee or a Wraith, and Humans of Sergeant rank will be instructed on using a Scarab. And only Major Elites of red armor will be taught to use the mighty Scorpion tank. And only the Spartans will be shown by the Zealots how to wield the awesome plasma sword.
Due to the lack of serviceable Human spacecraft, a sizeable portion of their soldiers will make bunk in Convert ships. They shall be given position and status equal to their new brothers, and all will be invaluable in the fight against the Covenant.
End brief.
Remember, this mission is to remove the threat of the remaining rings. If you fail, then all sentient existence will vanish. I will be the primary AI for this fleet, but the actual completion of it is up to you. Good luck, and remember that all life in the galaxy hinges on your success.
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Author's note: Well, okay, that is the first chapter. For those who need a little bit of help, this takes place after Halo 2, and in place of whatever storyline Bungie has developed for number three. The real action and story itself will commence in the next chapter. I hope you all will enjoy this and find it a thrilling read. Peace out!!