The Fleet Master of a small holding force, a scant fifty baseline Covenant vessels, was relatively young and inexperienced. He, as had many of his generation, had been put in command of a rear-echelon force assigned to safeguard a Halo artifact. While doing such was as close to paying direct homage to the ForeRunners as was possible, it did little to advance his career. Being a young Fleet Master he was strict in fleet discipline and procedure but had yet to gain the experience to trust his instincts.
When four Covenant Destroyers dropped out of SlipSpace barely four hundred kilometers from the patrolled perimeter, spitting distance even by interplanetary standards, it was a tad suspicious. The blistered patches on their streamlined frames were also cause for alarm. A priority message was quickly sent to the Fleet Master from a Brute with a nasty head wound. The Brute told an astonishing tale of a secret Coalition base launching a surprise attack. It was improbable but not impossible and the Fleet Master could only think of the prestige he would gain from destroying a Coalition base. After the proper codes were confirmed the Fleet Master hurriedly gave permission for the Destroyers to dock with the fleet's only Super Carrier. He was already contacting his Ship Masters to select which would go with him to take back this galaxy's Earth.
Outside, in the relatively crowded expanse of space around the Halo, the four Destroyers silently approached the Super Carrier. When they had come within ten kilometers the officers manning the Carrier's sensors noticed peculiar energy spikes coming from the lead ship. By the time they contacted the Ship Master the Destroyers were within five kilometers and had managed to approach from different vectors. The veteran Ship Master of the Super Carrier blamed it on his youthful superior's lust for glory.
All four Destroyers detonated in an actinic flash that completely blinded the entire fleet for several precious seconds even as it destroyed the Super Carrier.
This is what happened in those few seconds that the Fleet was blinded.
Ten vessels, of a configuration unknown to the Covenant, dropped out of SlipSpace only two hundred kilometers from the leading edge of the Covenant Fleet. They were of varying sizes but had identical shapes. Deceptively slim needles complete with eyes that opened into the void. The vessels were dazzling metallic silver in color and they could have almost been mistaken for stars at the right angle. The largest vessel, at the rear of the formation, began to spill from its eye a horde of miniature stars. The majority were shaped like quad-pronged needles, while some were shaped like cigars with stubby, forward sweeping wings; and the rest like the barracuda for which they were named.
The small attacking force had dropped out of SlipSpace in three tiers with the largest at the highest plane. Each tier was separated by thirty kilometers to give them clear fields of fire. The middle tier, composed of four vessels over two-thirds a kilometer long, spat forth blistering lines of shells in multi-ton weight class from rail emplacements. These were not normal rail emplacements but modified rapid-fire Rail Guns. Each emplacement extruded four linear accelerators around a loading tower. The accelerators fired in a cyclic pattern, two reloading while others fired, at a rate of four rounds every five seconds. Each ship in the middle tier was equipped with two forward facing emplacements.
Before the Covenant Fleet was aware they were under attack, five Destroyers and a Cruiser were obliterated by the blazing trails of light.
The first tier, the ships no longer than half a kilometer long, streaked forward amidst a large cloud of glittering 'stars'. When they closed to within fifty kilometers of the Hegemony Fleet they opened fire with devastating volleys from Capital-Class Particle Cannons.
Then the battle was truly joined.
First Lieutenant Ui'Tyinus' hands shook slightly as his flight escorted Philly Pride into battle. He was a Reaper pilot in the Tenth Reaper Squadron, Alpha Wing, Third Flight, Armada of Unity, First Carrier Group and this was his first live sortie.
Why so nervous? You're air caste, Kor, this is the moment your entire life has led towards.
The warm, masculine voice in his head was soothing to the Tau's nerves.
I don't know why, he thought at the voice. I'm ready.
The statement had come out as more of a question than he would have liked.
You are ready, his A.I. that still had yet to choose a name laughed. We're ready.
The A.I., designed from Aerial Hunter-Killer specifications, had been very dubious about partnering with an organic. His matter-of-fact assessment of Tyinus' readiness steadied the pilot's hands. Tyinus fixed his gaze on his forward view port, a thick band of transparent alloy, and at the quickly growing Hegemony Fleet. The gently curved side of the Trinity Destroyer to port bristled with emplacements. Above him the Cruisers continued their long-range bombardment. Suddenly the lines of light left by rail-shot disappeared only to be replaced by a cloud of torpedoes. The weapons were five meters long and carried payloads that could obliterate medium-sized asteroids.
Fifty-three? Tyinus' A.I. mused. That's a bit excessive.
The Hegemony finally began to return fire and lance-like directed energy weapons stabbed into the torpedo barrage. Plasma torpedoes were launched and began tracking the Destroyers.
"This is Wing Commander. Get hot."
Tyinus closed his eyes as his A.I. brought his ship to combat readiness. A surge in the data-stream coming through the jack at the base of his skull expanded his awareness into the Reaper. When he opened his eyes there was no control board in front of him, no throttle, no control yoke, only wide-open space. There was no need for sensor read-outs because he knew, as he knew how many fingers he had without looking, everything there was to know about his Reaper. Tyinus knew that he was exactly seven hundred, thirty-nine point five-six meters away from the hull of Philly Pride. He knew that his dual-linked particle repeaters were ready to fire. Tyinus knew the instant the first torpedo detonated.
The detonations of the torpedoes washed space in radiation and debris that clouded Hegemony sensors for several seconds.
Philly Pride and its escort were the first through.
Tyinus' field of view was taken up by a massive baseline Covenant Cruiser bearing down on Philly Pride. It utterly dwarfed the ISN Destroyer as the Seraph fighters dwarfed the slender Reapers.
Size does not matter. The thought came from one of the two sentient minds but it was irrelevant from which.
Philly Pride put on a burst of speed to close the distance. It was a suicidal maneuver given the disparity in ship size and the Cruiser was happy to oblige.
"Tenth," the squadron leader, a grizzled veteran called Nail, opened up the squadron's comm.-net. "There's a bomber wing trying to make a run. We have been cleared to intercept. Divide into pairs. Take your targets as they come. On me. "
The orders were given in a clear, powerful voice that had Tyinus lining up with his Wing-Mate and diving away from the Destroyer at almost a ninety-degree angle. 10th Squadron streaked forward in a double-line formation with Wing-Team One at the fore. Tyinus' team was near the rear of the squadron but his sensors told him everything he needed to know.
The bombers escort, Seraph fighters, peeled away to intercept the 10th.
"Split," Ten-Lead commanded and his team slipped fifty meters to port.
Tyinus and his Wing-Mate, Oros, were separated by fifteen meters and the distance deviated barely a millimeter as they slipped to port. A pair of Seraphs selected them as their targets and rocketed toward them with plasma cannons blazing. Tyinus and Oros jinked port, starboard, high and low but always returned to their fifteen meter spread.
"I think a Number Five would do nicely," Oros said as the two sets of ships came within five kilometers of each other.
"Agreed," Tyinus returned.
The Seraph pilots, probably assuming they could obliterate the smaller Reapers in one pass, did not deviate from their course. Traveling at many times the speed of sound, the distance was closed in seconds. Tyinus and Oros nudged their noses sharply down as they reversed thrust. The resultant increase in gravities would have crushed their finely boned, two-meter tall frames if not for the Reapers inertial dampeners and the hydrostatic gel that filled their flight suits. Crackling lines of particle energy lashed out as the Reaper pilots stood their fighters on their tails to bring their noses in line with the Seraphs bellies. Shields flared into nothingness and the enemy fighters did not explode so much as tear apart under the stress of their own velocity.
Tyinus' shields still retained seventy percent integrity.
"Two for us," Oros said, her voice grimly triumphant.
It was the first kill for both of them.
Bomber, Tyinus' A.I. gently brought the bomber to his attention.
It was passing at its maximum velocity only six kilometers to port.
"Rockets," Tyinus opened the comm. channel with a thought.
"Agreed."
The Wing-Team swung their Reapers around and in-line with the target. There was no need for vocal confirmation of launch as each pilot was aware milliseconds before the two rockets were spat from their tubes. These weapons were fire-and-forget but they were useful at long-range for two reasons. They were ejected at hypervelocity from their tubes, nowhere near as fast as a rail-round though, and their powerful thrusters gave another acceleration boost. Tyinus' rocket zipped through space at a fraction of the speed of light. Tyinus' rocket hit the bomber, obliterated its shield, and disintegrated half a meter of armor. Oros' rocket blasted it into a hundred tiny pieces.
The rest of the squadron had dealt with the remaining Seraphs and bombers without losing anyone.
"Second B-squad needs an escort. We have the honor. Line on me."
A waypoint marker, courtesy of Tyinus' A.I., appeared in the center of his visual field. Oros slid her Reaper behind him and the two oriented themselves towards the rest of the squadron. Ten-Lead was already moving towards the objective at two-thirds maximum speed. The other Wing-Teams were banking, slipping, and diving into formation. Tyinus accelerated his fighter towards the squadron at maximum thrust output. He and Oros were at the end this time but that just made it easier to line up with the others.
A hundred kilometers forward and to port the big guns were blasting away at each other. Tyinus magnified on the image of Philly Pride slowing as it made a broadside pass on the Hegemony Destroyer. At that range there could be no mistaking sensor readings, indeed it was close enough for visual assessment. Tyinus felt a grim pleasure at the thought of an arrogant Hegemony commander staring in horror as spooled plasma torpedo's came undone as they passed through the seven hundred meter wide entropy shield surrounding Philly Pride. Meanwhile Philly Pride was unleashing hell from its CC-Particle and Plasma Cannons. Philly Pride fired its weapons randomly since it had to open relatively small holes in its entropy shields to do so. It was dazzling to watch the exchange of energies between the two vessels. Once Philly Pride was past the stern it was evident who had won. The Hegemony Destroyer's shields were down and huge pieces of hull were open to the cold embrace of space. Another Hegemony Destroyer, broadside to the needle bow of Philly Pride, waited to make its mark on the Trinity Destroyer. A Cruiser fired a directed energy weapon; Plasma-Lance is what a fighter pilot had dubbed them, which passed through the entropy shield. The Plasma-Lance still lost a good deal of its destructive capability because Philly Pride's hull was barely scorched.
Then Philly Pride did something impossible and insane. Under full reverse thrust, at least Tyinus assumed so, the Trinity Destroyer stood up on its nose to present its belly to the Hegemony Destroyer it had passed. One rail-round was fired from the emplacements there. That round was a kiloton monster that effortlessly chewed its way deep into the enemy ship. Explosions began to tear the Hegemony vessel apart as Philly Pride rolled to present its Rail-Cannons to the other Destroyer while its particle weapons softened the prey.
"Squadron of Covenant Interceptors vectoring in on our bombers. We've got the duty. Break off on mark by team."
The 10th roared past the Kraken's and their three-Barracuda escort. Tyinus brought his focus back to his immediate situation. The Interceptors were sleeker, faster and more maneuverable than Seraphs but also not as heavily armored.
"Mark."
10th Squadron cut their engines almost as one and broke from their formation coasting on inertia. The Interceptors were not altering their trajectory a jot.
"Wake up call."
The squadron, from whatever intercept vector they were facing, launched a simultaneous barrage of rockets. Several of the Interceptors were destroyed in a flash while the rest took last millisecond evasive action. The rockets detonated, per their programming, once they confirmed a miss.
Neither side cared at that point.
The next twelve seconds of Tyinus' life were a flashing jumble of images. Oros and he engaged in death-defying maneuvers to take down a particularly skilled pilot. Him almost being speared by a Reaper fired rocket and only a split-second warning from his A.I. saved him. The space, it was amazing how less than twenty ships dogfighting in a thirty kilometer area could do so, but the entire area was filled with weapon emissions and actinic explosions.
When the last Interceptor was destroyed the 10th was still whole. Tyinus' shield, to his vast shock, had only been reduced by twenty percent. Half of that had been because of the near-miss.
"My apologies, brother," it was almost as if Nail had heard his thoughts.
"It happens, brother," Tyinus replied and that was the end of that.
Nail switched to the squad-wide channel, "Fall in. Standard escort."
The 10th waited for the bombers to catch up and fell into a square formation with Wing-One high above the bombers plane. The Barracudas flanked and led the squadron of Krakens. The rest of the journey was uneventful because the Cruiser that was the target was too concerned with Philly Pride as the Trinity Destroyer tore a hole through the Fleet of its sister ships. The Cruiser's fighter escort was embroiled in a brutal dogfight with the rest of their wing. Tyinus could feel how many of his brothers and sisters were still fighting. They had already lost three. Dogfights anywhere near capital ships were always risky. Stray too close to any and there was always the chance of being obliterated by anti-fighter batteries.
"Hold position, Tenth. Barracudas will take them the rest of the way."
The Barracudas were nine meters of destructive force wrapped in a sleek package. There were no wings on the craft so all of their weapons were semi-interior. Two rocket pods adorned the sides while twin torpedo tubes gave it a knock-out punch for an unwary capital ship. Dual heavy particle cannons forward, flanking particle repeaters, and an aft particle repeater allowed dogfights when a Barracuda had a need.
The Krakens had been given their nickname after Command had seen how just one could utterly obliterate a capital ship. That was all Krakens were intended to be- ship killers. For that purpose the stubby wings were filled with a variety of high-yield missiles while four, dual-tube torpedo launchers ringed its midsection. Two bow-emplaced particle repeaters and an aft one gave the Krakens some anti-fighter capability but they were not designed for it.
The Krakens pulled ahead and fired one salvo of torpedoes at the Cruiser's stern. Particle detonations stripped away the shield and killed the thrusters. Only six torpedoes or so Tyinus' A.I. told him, were launched. Massive explosions, generated by fusion reactions, tore the ship to pieces in a light show that would have blinded Tyinus if he was actually looking with his eyes.
"We have another mission, Tenth. Gunships dropped in behind the moon and found two Covenant Cruisers and their fighter escort waiting. Since we already have a bomber squad we are being sent to assist."
"Are we it?" Ten-Four, a fidgety kor'ui named Es'kolte, asked nervously.
"No, we are just closer than the others."
The Krakens and Barracudas quickly formed up and the Reapers took their places. It was at least three hundred thousand kilometers to their destination. At maximum speed a Kraken could cover the distance in less than a minute. Thankfully their course put them in an arc that took them far around the frenetic capital ship battle. Flairs of light marked the deaths of capital ships and Tyinus sighed with relief that it was not a Trinity Destroyer.
"Contacts," Nail's voice was tight over the comm.
Tyinus' A.I. brought the sensors contacts to his attention. Six Hegemony Interceptors were escorting a ship of unknown configuration. It was heavily armed though and its profile was consistent with Yevetha design. The unknown enemy ship was three times the size of a Barracuda in every dimension.
"Teams Four and Five, break-off and engage. Foun had command. I am sending a Barracuda for back-up. For the Greater Good!"
Tyinus' signaled acknowledgement through his transponder and veered off after the Barracuda. Foun and his Wing-Mate, Lisau, formed up to port of the heavy fighter. The five Trinity Interstellar Navy vessels formed a deadly spearhead with the Barracuda at the fore. There was a faint sound in Tyinus' ears a second before the Barracuda fired a pair of meter long torpedoes. The fighters cut their speed by thirty percent and watched as a Plasma-Lance detonated them from five kilometers away. The torpedoes exploded in a shower of small, round fusion mines that were carried forward by their momentum. The Hegemony ships broke formation but two and the unknown ship were not fast enough. It only took several mines to deplete an Interceptor's shield. Then more mines were free to eat gaping holes wherever they landed.
The Yevetha ship was much larger but also a much bigger target. The Barracuda wasted no time in firing off a dazzling missile salvo at the enemy ship as it was engulfed in mini-fusion mines. In response the Yevetha ship launched a missile salvo that dwarfed the Barracuda's and got nearly instantaneous guidance locks on all of the Trinity fighters.
Should take just a minute, Tyinus' A.I. said.
They'll be here in ten seconds. Tyinus was surprised at how composed he felt.
"Evasive," Foun snarled and the Barracuda promptly dove away.
At least half the missiles followed the heavy fighter, seemingly more concerned with the slower moving target, but that still left two dozen locked onto the Reapers. The two Wing-Teams split to port and starboard. Now the missiles had to choose their targets and that took an entire nanosecond that allowed the Reapers to gain distance. Tyinus could feel the missiles, six of them, rapidly closing on his tail. He released small spherical, decoys that sent out a variety of signals designed to mimic his Reaper. Only four of the missiles took the bait, detonating in starbursts of plasma, while the remaining two resolutely continued pursuit.
Two thousand meters.
Nine hundred meters.
Remote-hack going live.
There was a harsh screeching in Tyinus' mind and two hundred meters behind him the missiles detonated.
Cutting it a little close? Tyinus asked dryly.
It-
Before the A.I. could finish, Tyinus cut his thrust, rotated the Reaper's nose in a precise sixty degree spin, and fired particle streams from all four prongs. The Interceptor, traveling at speeds in excess of five hundred meters per second, could not deviate in time. Each particle stream converged at nearly the same spot beneath what could have been the cockpit. The blast ripped through the shields and the cockpit disappeared in a spray of debris. Seconds later the ship exploded spectacularly but Tyinus had already moved on.
"Two on my tail!" Oros' voice was tight with strain.
"Number Three, just like the simulations," Tyinus replied calmly.
"Affirmative," Oros sounded just slightly calmer.
Oros pulled her Reaper up into a tight loop with the Interceptors only three hundred meters behind her. The Interceptors had been firing their plasma cannons wildly after they discovered their missiles refused to lock on. Now they stopped firing as they concentrated on following Oros' maneuver. A millisecond after hitting the bottom of her arc, Oros cut thrust, flipped her Reaper nose-over-tail, and fired a pair of rockets just as the Interceptors were correcting their vectors. The lead Interceptor disappeared in an expanding ball of plasma while the other deftly avoided his death with a lightning fast barrel-roll. Unfortunately that put him directly in Tyinus' path and the kor pilot fired his particle weapons without mercy.
"This is Barracuda One, requesting immediate assistance."
"That's you, T-Four," Foun ordered and Tyinus was instantly aware Wing-Team Five was still dancing with their trio of Hegemony fighters.
Tyinus and Oros formed up side-by-side and raced towards the Barracuda. Tyinus magnified and was astonished to see how much damage the enemy craft had taken. At least four meters of alloy-spine was showing like the chewed bones of a terrestrial animal. Huge rents in its portside were sporadically venting atmosphere. To Tyinus' utter disbelief the Hegemony ship was still fighting and the Barracuda had taken moderate damage. It looked as though all of its torpedo tubes had been partially slagged. Now it was trading particle gun fire for plasma fire.
Tyinus and Oros were only two hundred meters away, already reversing thrust for an attack run, when the Barracuda darted away.
The reactor has gone supercritical. I suggest you turn around fast!
The Wing-Team flipped their ships and fired their thrusters at maximum output. Stopping their momentum when traveling at attack run speed was not instantaneous. They were still closing on the ship when the bulging of its hull was the first precursor to a devastating explosion.
"Thrust, Oros. We need thrust."
Thrust, he thought with all his might and then something unexpected happened.
The thruster assembly of all Trinity combat vessels was designed to be virtually invisible. Tyinus and Oros' assembly cover, a relatively small outer casing, broke off as their thoughts obsessively turned to thrust. The stinger shaped primary thruster began to glow blue-white with an intensity the designers had never envisioned.
In a burst of brilliant blue-white light the two Reapers accelerated far past what was believed to be their maximum speed in less than a second.
It was then that the Hegemony ship exploded and the shockwave expanded almost as fast as the Reapers were accelerating.
That's impossible. Tyinus' A.I. actually sounded astonished.
The massive front of destructive heat and radiation raced at the two pilots with a hungry malevolence they could almost feel. After nearly a five hundred kilometer chase the shockwave began to dissipate. Shortly after the ISN communication lines were full of questions.
Tyinus was simply happy to be alive.
Corporal Cage ducked as another plasma mortar impacted ten meters in front of his platoon's position. This… Halo was awe-inspiring in its grandeur, Cage had only been able to gape in amazement when the shuttle had taken them to the surface, but now he was wishing the builders had stuck to natural landscapes. Cage's entire cadre, along with several others, had been ordered to reinforce the Terminators that had taken control of the command center. Intel had not been so kind as to tell them the entire canyon floor belonged to the Hegemony.
The cadres had fought through at least a regiment of Covenant Corps. before being brought to a standstill by the hardpoints the Hegemony had set up. Ten of those hardpoints were centered on the newest Wraith tank design the Hegemony had come up with. Cage's left arm still stung from a near miss of a mortar round even though a medic had regenerated his skin and tissue. There were Shade emplacements, as well as rocket batteries, all along the valley floor and walls. The armored cavalry the force had attached would be mince-meat in the wide-open approach that was the fastest route to the cavernous main doors. A series of bridges spanned the canyon but they too were crawling with AA-guns and Hegemony soldiers.
It was a killing ground out there.
Cage had been close when the acting commander, O'Styx, had called for an aerial strike. Naval Command had denied it and told him to wait for reinforcements. The Fire Warrior might have cursed, his body language had not been happy, but he had ordered a squad to set up a Displacement Zone.
It was a very big Displacement Zone.
So the cadres had waited, what passed for night had fallen, and then whispers began that the Special Forces had arrived.
"What the hell are they going to do?" Cage mumbled as he chewed on a ration bar.
"Kill everything," a cold voice answered from the shadows.
Cage looked up, ration bar in his mouth, at a shape blacker than the darkness. Then light, a hellish crimson light in the shape of barbaric tattoos, flared briefly before the shadow moved towards the killing ground.
Dozens more followed.
The sky lit up with weapons fire and Cage's gun-team looked up in awe. Crisis BattleSuits led darting squads into battle. The BattleSuits, the largest no more than four meters in height, were everywhere laying waste to everything Hegemony in sight. The Special Forces were no different for every hardpoint they passed disappeared in fiery torment seconds later.
Six minutes and thirty seconds later, Cage was sure no one in his platoon had breathed once; the canyon floor belonged to the ISMC.
Still no one moved as the BattleSuits and Special Forces squads moved to the interior of the base.
Several minutes later a faint keeping noise could be heard coming from the open doors. Then a flood of Hegemony soldiers; they were a mixture of Jackals, Grunts, and even a small number of Elites, Brutes, and Hunters, raced out into the killing ground. By this time Cage and his repeater were part of a softpoint twenty meters from the entrance. It was deeply unsettling that the soldiers would run such a terribly gauntlet rather than face the ISMC forces that lay inside.
"Mont'au," a Tau whispered near him just as they opened fire.
Cage's computer translated it as 'The Terror' and Cage couldn't agree more.