Chapter 1: The Fall of Reach
The Admiral felt his fingers clenching the railings after the MAC cannon went off. The magnetized round shook the whole cruiser. Admiral John Thomas got off the railings and motioned back to his command station.
He looked around the bridge and saw his crew praying that the MAC would finally bring this enemy frigate down, but the Admiral had his doubts. The Gladius was Thomas' cruiser and it had already taken some heavy hits in the hell hole he used to call home.
Reach had fallen to the Covenant. The orbital MACs had shut down, but there were about thirty UNSC ships still ready to fight. John knew it was over, but he felt he owed it to his crew to give them hope. They had done more than enough for John in his times of needs.
The Admiral awoke from his trance just as the MAC round impacted the target frigate and sent it into a spin. The frigate stabilized and with a few flickers, the ship's shields started to recharge. John held his head down for a few moments. He thought about the choices he had. Admiral Thomas could either fire his second MAC cannon and destroy the frigate, or try to bombard the ship with archer missiles to keep the MAC for another ship.
John made his decision. "Fire the second MAC, Lieutenant," barked Thomas. Lieutenant Rick Sullivan gave a quick nod to the Admiral and typed in some keys. Rick had served under John since, the Admiral's rank changed. He knew the weapons system of the Gladius front and back, which would always ensure his position on the bridge.
The Lieutenant finished his typing and announced, "Firing MAC." He hit the enter key and ship shook again as the shell rocketed towards the enemy frigate.
John shifted his attention to the view screens on his station. The MAC broke through the frigate's shield and erupted in flames of the ship's hull. Debris drifted from the flaming destruction and started to descend onto Reach like a meteor.
Thomas smiled at the torn frigate. They would pay for what they did to Reach. John looked over at the port side view screen and was puzzled at what he saw.
"Ensign Chau?" said the Admiral. David Chau had been on board this ship as long as Sullivan, which gave him his seat as the navigational expert and the tech expert on the bridge.
"Yes sir?" Chau responded.
"Bring up the port side view screen," the Admiral said. If the Admiral was right, a ship just jumped out of system. John looked at the larger image of his port side. "Do you see that flicker Ensign?"
Chau squinted and the widened his eyes in disbelief. He fidgeted for his keyboard and zoomed in on the flicker. "Let me just clean up the resolution," reported Chau as he was typing, "And… there you go."
The blurry image cleared up in an instant and the Admiral just watched the words spread across the jumping ship's side.
Pillar of Autumn.
Lieutenant Damien Holmes held down the trigger on his joystick. His Longsword fighter had been chasing down this Seraph for over five minutes, and he couldn't live through another mistake.
The Seraph took a quick right turn, but Damien wouldn't let him go now. He rammed his joystick to the right and tried to set up a bead. The crosshairs were shaking uncontrollably but Damien had been in worse situations.
Left, then right again, the Seraph turned and accelerated, but he couldn't lose the Lieutenant. Damien squeezed the joystick with all his strength to stabilize it. The crosshairs lined up for a split second and then the Seraph exploded.
The twenty-year old Lieutenant had just come back from Sigma Octanus IV, on the Gladius, before he was deployed at Reach. He and about all of his Longsword pilots knew it was over, but they wanted to send as much of those Covies to Hell as they possibly could.
He was the superior officer to all of the Longsword pilots, but had recently turned the Admiral's offer of being on the bridge of the Gladius. He was supposed to take the seat of the Damage control expert. Damien knew that he would have a bigger impact on the war out on a Longsword though.
The Lieutenant looked through the space to find his comrades, but they were no where to be found.
Then he got the message from the Admiral, "This is the Admiral speaking, all Longsword ships return to the Gladius. I repeat, all Longsword ships return to the Gladius."
Damien looked at the Covenant capital ship in front of him. Damien took a deep breath and turned his ship around. "I guess this nuke will have to wait."
"I want us ready to jump as soon as those Longswords get through those hatches!" barked the Admiral at David.
"But sir, what about the battl-," The Ensign was interrupted.
"Ensign," said the Admiral, "This battle is over. Now get our slipspace generator online and randomize those coordinates."
John looked to the Lieutenant Holmes' Longswords on his view screen. They were all speeding towards the Gladius. The Admiral wondered if the pilots knew he wanted to jump. Thomas knew that Damien would be upset with leaving, but the Admiral only had the best in mind.
Lieutenant Chau had finished charging the generators, but the Longswords still weren't in.
Then a jolt of energy rocked the ship. John flew forward and hit the ground hard. He let out a moan as he slowly brought himself up. "What the hell was that?"
One of the Lieutenants in the back answered him, "Sir, a Covenant ship has spotted us."
John rolled his eyes at the obvious statement and looked at his view screen. Damien and his squadron were pulling into the docking bay.
"Another bolt is gonna hit in ten seconds."
"Get us out of here Ensign!" screamed the Admiral.
Ensign Chau scrambled for the activation button and finally pressed it. The Gladius was engulfed in light right as the plasma bolt passed by.