There were only a few fighters left. The war had turned horribly worse in space. The Covenant knew the planet was theirs. They could eradicate all life planetside in a matter of moments, so their focus turned to the reeling fleet, crippled and diminishing rapidly. The seraph fighters swooped suddenly and fiercely onto the fighters, eliminating the majority of the fighters the fleet had. Four Longswords flew in formation. Nitoka lead the pattern, Pasley took second, and the other two fell behind.
"That was my last missile, but at least I took one down." Pasley panted into the radio. Another voice came back.
"Yea, I'm out too, and my left thruster is misfiring."
"Hold on, you two. I'm going to radio fleet and inform them that we need refitted." Nitoka calmly replied as she dodged plasma bursts. The others followed suit, hoping to survive a little longer so they could get home. David thought about JP, holed up on the surface. He knew that the enemy controlled almost the entire surface, and that they could be engaged at any moment. His reverie was broken with a jolt and a crash. Red lights illuminated the cockpit, a warning siren began blaring. A plasma bolt struck his thrusters, knocking out all power to his engines and propulsion systems.
"I'm hit! I'm hit bad!" David shouted. His systems began to flicker and shut down.
"Take down the son of a bitch that fired at him! I'll tow him back to the Orion!" Nitoka ordered. Breaking formation, Nitoka swooped backwards and fired a fuel transfer line, which usually doubled as a winch. The other two fighters joined into a crossfire pattern and lit up the lone seraph. It was only a matter of moments before David felt himself being uncontrollably hurled towards the Orion, not far away. The seraph that hit him soon was non-existent.
"He's down, Lieutenant!" One of the men confidently reported.
"Good," Nitoka answered without hesitating. "Now cover me while I get Pasley back to the ship, then get inside and dock."
Captain Ward was at his wits' end. His ship was crumbling before his eyes – again. The second most heavily defended planet under UNSC control was falling, and fleet command had him absorbing fire from hitting smaller ships. It was a hell of a way to repay the ship that single-handedly became responsible for the destruction of three Covenant ships. He strode about the deck, sword in hand, pipe in mouth – mumbling to himself and suddenly barking orders when the moment came.
"There's an incoming transmission from Fleetcom HQ, sir!" A tech officer announced. The captain replaced his sword and grabbed his pipe firmly.
"Put it through." He ordered simply. He looked at his main viewing screen, which currently displayed a battle map of Reach. With a few beeps, the screen suddenly blinked to the face of Vice Admiral Dixon, the right hand man of Admiral Freemont. Dixon was known to be more lighthearted, but quick to use force. He was also notorious for his tactics of overwhelming force and absolutely no mercy. He rose quickly through the ranks after leading a group of three UNSC vessels through a year-long campaign that saw the demise of 17 Covenant ships without a single boarding action or casualty with the exception of one maintenance technician due to complications of undiagnosed diabetes. As soon as his promotion to Vice Admiral came in, he renamed the destroyer he was stationed upon the UNSC Jester, which is what the dead mans friends called him, in his honor.
"Vice Admiral, sir!" Captain Ward snapped to attention with a salute. Dixon nodded and saluted back. Ward stood at ease as Dixon began to speak.
"The war is not going well, Captain. We must take drastic measures to assure the survival of humanity, even if it means losing Reach." The Vice Admiral began.
"Yes, sir. What did you have in mind?" Ward asked.
"A full retreat. Enact the Cole Protocol, select random coordinates, and get the hell out of there. We can't win, so why bother letting our boys die for no reason?" Dixon sharply explained.
"Immediately, sir?"
"Yes. Within the next hour, I want every ship out of the area. Evacuations are complete, yes?" Ward turned to a crewman, who quickly nodded.
"Yes, sir, but I don't know if all of the troops are evacuated," Ward answered. "We need a little more time to confirm."
"There isn't any time. I've just ordered the immediate evacuation of all of our ships. If there are any Marines on that planet, they're probably dead or they will be by the time we get there. The risk is just too great." Dixon solemnly answered. Ward cut off the screen and turned away without saying a word. His temper usually got the better of him, but he knew he'd just made a huge mistake.
"Evacuate, sir?" Schroeder asked.
"No. No, no, no. Contact the nearest destroyers and get me their captains." He commanded, pulling his sword.
"Sir, I've got the captains of the Orion and the Pillar of Autumn on the line." Schroeder informed.
"Put them through. We will need their help to get our boys out of there."
"Alright, snap to, boys!" Nitoka shouted to the pilots. They rose from their seats around the communications equipment and faced their leader. She strode to them briskly, a demeanor of business about her. They dreaded any news she had at this point.
"Yes, ma'am!" They acknowledged. She looked at them. She saw their fear and their anxiety. She knew what she was about to tell them would make them happy, but make them even more scared. She hated fear. Fear is what makes you hesitate. Fear is what gets good pilots killed. She tried her hardest not to fear.
"I've got one last assignment for you before we jump," she began. "Every other UNSC ship minus two others are leaving in an hour. They're going to make a blind jump a short distance away, then return to the far side of the orbit to cover us." The others looked at her vacantly. They knew it was bad news. She'd just assigned them an order without explaining it.
"Ma'am, what do you mean when you say three ships are staying behind?" One of the nervous pilots asked. She grimaced.
"There are still boys down on that planet, and I'll be damned if we don't at least try to rescue them before we retreat. The two Halcyon-class ships will provide us with cover from plasma hits and boarding parties. The Orion will provide most of the fire against the ships directly. The fighters will be covering groups of transports going to the surface and then coming back. After that, we jump and leave Reach to them."
Before she finished speaking, the other pilots were ready to launch.