Hello again, everyone, and welcome back to my Halo/MechWarrior - BattleTech crossover redux.

My apologies for not updating this chapter for quite some time. I was busy getting Star Wars: Odyssey of the Infinity, the redux of my original Halo/Star Wars crossover, off the ground. Because of the work going into that crossover, updates will be less frequent, though I have not abandoned this story, and I do not intend to do so. I'm simply going to take longer when it comes to updating this story. In addition, I have just revised chapter 14 of this crossover, though chapters 9 and 10 will be receiving a revision in the future shortly.

As always, leave a review, and enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own the Halo or MechWarrior/BattleTech franchises. They are the respective properties and trademarks of Microsoft Studios, 343 Industries, Bungie, FASA Corporation, FASA Interactive, Catalyst Game Labs, WizKids, Piranha Games Inc., etc. Any material original to the franchises belongs to their respective developers and publishers. Any material not original to the franchises is of my own invention. I do not own any music listed in each chapter. Any music listed belongs to its original composers and/or artists.

SLS Moscow

Epsilon Indi Oort Cloud

March 1st, 2526

Onboard the Moscow, the air was thick with tension as dozens of officers worked at their stations, with even the computers themselves being silent. At his command chair, Admiral Janos watched the crew work with a keen, but relaxed eye as he waited for UNSC Battle Group X-Ray to report in. Looking at a readout near his chair, he looked at the composition that he had chosen for this particular fleet.

The SLDF's Seventh Fleet was one of their larger naval forces, although at forty-five warships it was less than half the strength it had boasted before Amaris. Boasting four of the seven Texas-class battleships that had been refitted with UNSC technology, the fleet had considerable firepower, but each of the upgraded warships was a huge commitment of still limited manpower and of the most precious commodity in any war: time. Losing even one ship and its crew would be felt by the Star League Navy for years.

We have to make this count, or it's going to be extremely rough, he said to himself. Thinking back to a week ago, he recalled a meeting that he and Director Kerensky had when they were planning the very same mission they were about to embark on.

. . .

One Week Earlier

Inside of the underground levels that composed part of Reach High Command, a meeting was underway as the heads of the UNSC and SLDF military forces discussed the strategy for taking back Harvest. Inside of the conference room, Janos and Nicholas were busy talking with Vice Admirals Stanforth and Preston J. Cole, and things were moving along. "I agree in that we need to strike at Harvest," Stanforth was saying. "The question I have, though, is how should we go about it?"

"A very good question," Janos said. "Perhaps Director Kerensky here can provide some illumination in that regard."

"That I can," Nicholas agreed. Pulling out a few manila folders, he passed them around the table to the others. "Ever since the comms blackout, and the discovery of the Covenant, I've had surveillance vessels keeping a very close eye on the system. So far, there has only been a single ship in that star system."

Stanforth and Cole looked inside the folders. In addition to mission reports from the Mata Hari, the first SLDF ship to encounter the Covenant, there were reports from other Bug-Eyes that had been in the area, as well as a few scans and photographs from probes. True to Kerensky's words, there was only a single WarShip that was in the area, though by all accounts, it was a massive one, at only a little under the size of the Newgrange class YardShips the SLDF had.

While Stanforth and Cole read the reports, Nicholas continued to speak. "According to the intelligence gathered from the Unrelenting, the Covenant ship that Blackhearts Team Epsilon and Spartan Team Blue captured, that ship is known as the Heaven's Brilliant Bier. That same intelligence indicates that the ship, which I'll refer to from now on as the Bier, is a Rasus-class interdictor, meant to hold a system until a larger fleet comes to secure the system permanently.

"This, however, presents us with a unique opportunity. Given that the Covenant has stationed that ship in the system to hold it until a larger fleet comes, we can assault the enemy ship and destroy it, allowing us to retake Harvest and to fortify the planet's surface. Given the size of the ship, I believe that four Texas-class Battlecruisers will be sufficient to destroy the Bier. However, given what the Covenant might do, I recommend having the 7th Naval Fleet support the Texas-class WarShips, while Battle Group X-Ray remains on standby in case the Covenant bring along reinforcements. That way, the 7th Fleet won't be caught up a creek without a paddle."

Stanforth and Cole nodded. So far, the plan seemed quite sensible, though all of them knew the old adage that no plan survived contact with the enemy. "Good work, so far," Stanforth said quietly. "What is your plan for taking on the Bier?"

"Janos and I worked on that plan a few days earlier," Cole said, pulling up a hologram of the fleet. "Janos and I have agreed to a joint command on this one. While he commands the ships that are attacking the Bier, I'll be in charge of the reserve fleet. We'll perform an in-system jump from the asteroid belt to Harvest if an enemy fleet comes in."

"I thought your ships couldn't perform an intra-system jump," Janos remarked, "unless I'm missing something that is…"

"You'd be correct," Stanforth said. "Ever since the scientists went to work studying the tech in the Soell System a few years back, our Slipstream Space Drives have improved significantly, especially when we found a Forerunner drive to work off of on Installation 04."

Janos nodded. "Ah, I see. Thank you for informing me of that. Knowing that your fleet can perform an intra-system jump now is excellent news."

"That it is," Cole agreed. "The Covenant no longer has the advantage in that regard. Now, with the strategy on my end of the fight discussed, what do you plan to do?"

"Simple," Janos replied, bringing up another portion of the hologram. As it played, he said, "Once we jump in close proximity to Harvest, we'll use the bulk of the planet to keep ourselves hidden from the Covenant ship during our arrival. We'll perform a gravitational slingshot maneuver that will bring us in close proximity to the stern of the Covenant ship. With our upgraded targeting computers, we'll be able to engage the Covenant ship at a distance of 15,000 kilometers.

"We'll first use our Naval PPCs and Lasers to down the energy shields on the Covenant ship. Once the shields are down, we'll also begin firing our ballistic weapons and tear the enemy ship apart. Once that is done, we'll do a scan to see if we're all clear. Should an enemy fleet arrive as the battle commences, your fleet, Cole, will jump in and help us out."

Cole smiled humorlessly. "That will certainly give the Covenant a little pause."

"That it will," Stanforth said. At that moment, Kerensky cleared his throat loudly. "Yes?"

"There's something else I should mention as well," Kerensky said. "The WarShips participating in this battle have been refitted with missiles that make use of a new warhead." Pausing for dramatic effect, he said, "The new warheads are nuclear in nature, but have been redesigned to direct the nuclear detonation into a powerful jet of plasma capable of tearing through a Covenant ship."

That caused a few eyebrows to rise. "You created nuclear shaped charges?" Cole asked.

"That we did," Kerensky said. "It's not a new concept, but it's not been practical or really needed, until now that is. We revived the idea as a possible weapon against the Caspars but the problems weren't solved in time for that war. Working with UNSC scientists finally let us get enough efficiency at a useful scale."

"Good. Are you sure that these nuclear shaped charges will be able to penetrate Covenant warship armor?"

"If a standard 500 kiloton Peacemaker nuclear missile could melt a hole into the hull of a Covenant ship, then you can bet a trillion credits that these new variants will do significant damage to a Covenant ship."

That was enough to reassure Cole. "I see," he said. "Very impressive. So this mission will not just be our first attack on the Covenant, it will also be a trial by fire for this new weapon system. I can think of worse occasions for using such a weapon. Any questions?" When none presented themselves, he said. "Good. We'll attack one week from now at 0400 hours local time."

. . .

Present Day

As the memory passed, Janos' line of thought was interrupted when his Navigation Officer said, "Sir, our K-F Drive is ready for the in-system jump to Harvest. The Nimbus, Prinz Eugen, Perth and the other WarShips are reporting that they are ready as well. Permission to begin jump, sir?"

"Granted," Janos said. "It's time for Operation: RETRIBUTION to begin." At that, he settled into his chair. "Zhukov?"

At Janos' question, the holographic image of a Soviet General with brown eyes and dark brown hair appeared over the holo-projector. Dressed in a WWII era Soviet uniform, the AI based on General Zhukov looked the part. "Yes," he asked

"Prepare the ship for the Jump."

"Yes, Captain," Zhukov replied. A moment later, he broadcasted an announcement over the fleetwide comm channel. "All ships, initiate K-F Jump in T-Minus 30 seconds." Those seconds quickly passed, with the AI saying, "K-F Jump in five… four… three… two… one… zero."

A moment later, the powerful T-95 K-F Drives inside of the ships roared to life. In a few seconds, the ships jumped a distance that would've taken weeks, if not months, to travel in real time. Onboard the Moscow, Janos felt a very slight compressing sensation, almost like a massage, before the ship exited the hyperspace wormhole and reentered realspace near Harvest.

"Jump complete," the Navigation Officer reported. "We've arrived approximately two megameters from Harvest, sir."

Exactly where we needed to be, Janos thought. "Noted." Keying the fleetwide COM, he said, "All ships, this is your Admiral speaking. Go to General Quarters immediately. Operation RETRIBUTION is a go." Closing the COM, he turned to his officers and said, "Bring the reactor to 100% power and fire up the engines at maximum power. Once we've reached optimal velocity, power down the engines for the gravity slingshot maneuver."

"Aye, Captain," the officers replied.

Zhukov was also quick to add in orders. "Come about heading 2-8-0 mark negative 0-1-0!" he ordered. The Navigation Officer quickly made the required adjustments to the heading. All of the ships in the fleet quickly performed a pirouette maneuver, their engines flaring as they reached maximum power in a few seconds.

For the next minute or so, the engines on each ship fired, pushing all forty five WarShips at top acceleration. Onboard the Moscow, Janos could feel a very slight vertigo sensation, the result of the inertial compensators working to keep the crew from being crushed to death by the high G reaching the one minute mark, the engines powered down, allowing the massive WarShips to continue orbiting around the planet. "Gravity slingshot maneuver successful," Zhukov reported. "ETA to desired combat range:10 minutes."

"Good," Janos said. "Once the ship is in view, we will begin combat operations immediately." The crew settled in for the ten minute wait, hands and bodies tense as they awaited their commands. It won't be long now.

. . .

Onboard the Heaven's Brillliant Bier, there was a decidedly different mood onboard the ship, at least when it came to the person in charge. Inside of a chamber located amidship, Shipmistress Sevana 'Zhatumee leaned back slightly, narrowly avoiding the twin pronged blades of a Energy Sword. Even at its training power setting, the blade produced enough heat that she could feel the heat billowing off of the blade.

Her opponent, an older and taller male Sangheili, snarled slightly as he missed, allowing Sevana to jab at his defenses, Recovering expertly, the male Sangheili quickly blocked her thrust, parrying the blade in a manner that would allow him to wrench the blade from Sevana's hands. Sevana, anticipating this, drew the blade back before he could flick it out of her hands, allowing the two to circle each other. Both Sangheili had their eyes focused on the other, with both of them looking for a weakness to exploit, both in their actions, and the gold armor that they wore.

Roars of excitement, as well as shouted words of encouragement, were the only reminders to Sevana that she and her opponents weren't the only ones in the sparring chamber onboard the Heaven's Brilliant Bier. Dozens of other Sangheili, from Minors to Ultras in rank, were watching the two, each one favoring either Sevana or the male Sangheili that she was sparring with. Even a few KigYar had come to watch, if only to keep themselves from falling asleep from the sheer boredom they were trying to dispel.

At that, Sevana spotted her opportunity to win. Looking at her opponent, she found that he was favoring his right leg. Rushing forwards, she feinted a jab at his left side, before swiping at his right flank with her Energy Sword while shoulder tackling him. The male, not anticipating this, was quickly knocked on his back, with Sevana's legs straddling his waist. Before he could mount a proper defense, Sevana swept his arms aside and stabbed down with her Energy Sword, stopping the tips of the weapon's twin blades just inches from his throat.

The male, realizing that he had been beaten, let his tense body relax, before his mandibles spread slightly, the Sangheili equivalent of a smile. Moments later, a deep, rumbling laugh erupted from his throat. "Haha!" he roared. "An excellent spar, Sevana! You are a master of the blade!"

Sevana smiled. "Why wouldn't I be, Thorek." Getting up, she switched off her Energy Sword, before extending a hand towards Thorek, a hand that he quickly grasped to get back up. Looking at the others, she asked, "Now, what did Thorek do wrong?"

"He kept on favoring his right leg," one of the Sangheili, a Minor Sevana judged from his blue armor, replied. "In addition, he glanced at it just before you attacked, distracting him and preventing him from properly defending himself."

"An astute observation," Sevana said to the Minor. "When you are fighting an opponent, you must always look for even the smallest of advantages. The only way to do so, however, is to remain observant at all times, and to not let your own injuries distract you. We will have another spar within a few units of time. Dismissed."

Getting up from the crates they had used as impromptu chairs, the Sangheili and KigYar quickly left, leaving Sevana and Thorek in the sparring chamber alone. As soon as they were gone, Sevana said, "Is your leg all right?"

Thorek smiled. "It will be in due time. A sore leg is a small price to pay for the enjoyment that you and I had last night." Reaching down, he gave one of her buttocks a slight pinch.

Sevana smiled, growling as she gave Thorek a seductive wink. It was no secret among the crew that Thorek and Sevana had strong sexual relations with each other. Even before they had been assigned to the Heaven's Brilliant Bier, the two Sangheili had a strong relationship with each other. This had been rather fortuitous, as the two had been arranged to become mates with each other by their parents as a way to strengthen ties between their families, the 'Zhatumee's and 'Vorkemee's respectively.

In fact, Sevana knew that today was the last day she had before she would be put on maternity leave. Looking down at her belly, she purred as she rubbed a hand over the tech suit that was covering that particular area. She didn't know when it would happen, though she knew that, ever since she and Thorek had sexual intercourse with each other, it would only be a matter of time. Soon, I will be a mother, she said to herself.

Thorek, noticing this, asked, "Is everything all right?"

"Yes," Sevana replied, wrapping an arm around Thorek's back. "With you, all is well." Walking closer to him, she embraced him in a hub before interlacing her mandibles with his own. Her long blue tongue snaked from deep within her throat to wrap around Thorek's own. Both Sangheili purred as they held the embrace for a few seconds, before parting.

Thorek looked at her, his eyes filled with the love that only a true lover could have. "I love you," he whispered.

"As do I," Sevana replied. "Perhaps, tonight, we will have some more enjoyment with each other."

Thorek smiled. "Perhaps. However, we have a duty to do, and it is a grizzly one at that."

Sevana's smile faded. "That we do. It is time that we traveled to the bridge anyways. Would you care to accompany me?"

"Of course," Thorek said…

The bridge of the Heaven's Brilliant Bier was a fairly large and spacious affair, though not as large as that of a CCS-class Battlecruiser. The room was shaped like a large oval, with the sides having doors that led to other parts of the ship. The ceiling was high overhead, and the room was very wide, giving it a sense of grandness and emptiness, while the ornately shaped purple and blue walls gave the place an oddly peaceful feeling.

As soon as Sevana and Thorek walked inside, their earholes were bombarded with the sounds of dozens of Sangheili working at their stations. Most of them were Minors, with a few Majors that coordinated their efforts. Up ahead were two command chairs that were set into a small platform that was elevated above the rest of the bridge. Both Sevana and Thorek advanced to each one and sat down. "Status report?" she asked.

Another Sangheili came over, his maroon colored armor scratched and battered from hard military campaigns. "Nothing so far," he said to the two. "Our sensors have revealed no hostiles in the immediate area. From what we can tell, the heretical Humans abandoned the planet as soon as the Rapid Conversion began its attack."

"I see," Sevana mused. Like all Sangheili, she despised any species that did not worship the Forerunners as the gods they were, and hated any species that tried to destroy the gifts their gods had left behind. As such, she was understandably angry at the Humans, whom the Prophets had accused of destroying a Forerunner reliquary, a crime punishable by extermination. "Is that all?"

"We are checking to see if that is all right now," the Sangheili Major replied. "If all goes well, then we will have nothing to worry about. We will always remain vigilant, though. The heretics could pop up anywhere."

"Excellent," Sevana said. "Continue maintaining vigilance at your post." She fell silent, content in her crew's ability to make sure that all was well.

She was so content, in fact, that she jumped very slightly when a Minor shouted, "Shipmistress! We have unidentified contacts approaching from behind the ship!"

In an instant, all thoughts about spending time with her mate were gone, replaced by a cold, calculating logic. Keying a few commands into a holographic keypad at her command chair, Sevana quickly brought up the tactical feed. A hologram of an area roughly 5 light seconds around the Heaven's Brilliant Bier came up near-instantly. She quickly adjusted it, focusing on the area that was roughly one light-second around her ship.

It was at that moment that she spotted the unknown contacts the Minor had informed her of. Forty five small dots were shown on the hologram, each one representing a ship. Scans indicated that, given the velocity of the unknown ships, they would enter the maximum engagement range for the Heaven's Brilliant Bier in just a few minutes. Those scans also indicated that most of the ships were fairly small, ranging between three hundred to eight hundered meters long, though there were four ships that were roughly 1.2 kilometers in length, likely capital ships.

That, however, was enough to tell Sevana exactly what she was looking at. Humans, she snarled internally. She had heard about the Unrelenting going dark before, though no one really knew what had happened to it. Now, she could see that the Humans had returned to reclaim Harvest with a fleet forty five warships strong."

Thorek, who was looking at a similar feed, voiced her thoughts. "Either they are incredibly stupid, or they know something that we do not."

"My thoughts exactly," Sevana agreed. Looking at her officers, she said, "Navigator, bring us around towards the incoming ships and ready weapons. From the looks of it, the filthy Humans have returned to retake Harvest. Weapons Master, warm up the plasma cannons, pulse lasers and plasma torpedoes."

"It shall be done!" the Sangheili crewmen replied. Nearby, the Weapons Master quickly activated a few functions at his console. Within moments, holographic steering spheres appeared, indicating that the plasma torpedoes were armed and ready for launch.

"Ready to fire!" he reported.

"Good," Sevana said. "Fire the plasma torpedoes! We shall smite these filthy heretics!" Nodding in agreement, the Weapons Master quickly gained the required steering solutions before firing them.

. . .

Onboard the Moscow, Janos watched as the ships drew closer to the 15 megameter boundary that marked their new effective engagement sphere. His feet tapped an arpeggio as he worked off some nervous stress. Looking around, he watched as the crew quietly waited as well, each man and woman at their battle stations. Turning to Zhukov, he asked, "How long?"

"Thirty seconds," Zhukov replied.

"Noted," Janos said. Activating the fleetwide COM, he said. "Prepare firing solutions. Once we are within the 15 megameter mark, we will engage the Covenant ship." Closing the COM, he waited out those last few seconds.

Right on cue, Zhukov said, "We have past the 15 megameter point."

"Sir! Covenant ship is preparing to fire!" the Sensors Officer reported. "Thermal blooms detected on the hull!"

"INCOMING!" The Fire Control Officer shouted. "Plasma torpedoes have been launched!" At that moment, a volley of plasma torpedoes launched from the Bier, each one zooming through space towards the 4 WarShip strong group.

"Zhukov?!" Janos asked.

"Point defense systems activated! Intercepting plasma torpedoes!" Zhukov shouted.

On the hulls of the Moscow, Nimbus, Prinze Eugen, Perth, and many of the other WarShips in 7th Fleet, numerous armored ports opened up on each of the WarShips, revealing laser and missile weapons that had been installed to give the ships a means of self-defense against long range munitions. This had been done as part of the refit that the SLDF WarShips in the battle had undergone months earlier, though it was only possible thanks to the joint SLDF-UNSC effort to make the systems smaller, freeing up room for these new point defense systems.

As such, the forty five strong WarShips were not defenseless when it came to engaging the plasma torpedoes fired at them. On the front bow of the Moscow, multiple LRM-20s fired, sending a swarm of missiles towards the incoming plasma munitions. Nearby, the Nimbus and Prinz Eugen also fired their LRM-20s, sending more swarms of missiles towards the plasma torpedoes, while the other WarShips threw in their own missiles. Inside the bridge of the Moscow, Janos keyed the fleet wide COM. "All Battlecruisers open fire!" he roared thunderously. "Blast the Brilliant Bier to hell!"

At that precise moment, the twenty five SLDF Battlecruisers in the fleet opened fire on the Heaven's Brilliant Bier. While invisible in the vacuum of space, powerful beams of laser light and particle bolts shot from the weapons mounted on the WarShips and through the void of space. At the same time, a flight of Capital Missiles armed with anti-WarShip warheads streaked through space like angry comets, each one flying erratically to avoid being hit by the pulse lasers on the Covenant ship.

. . .

Onboard the Heaven's Brilliant Bier, Sevana heard her Weapons Master shout, "Incoming weapons fire!"

"Shields taking damage!" another Sangheili shouted. "Bow shields down to 78%!"

Looking at her tactical feed, Sevana could see that, true enough, the shields on the bow section of the ship had dropped to 78%. In another instant, they dropped down to 65% of their full strength. "Engage with the plasma torpedoes!" she calmly ordered, though her tone of voice conveyed a sense of urgency. "Navigator, bring us closer to them.! Our other weapons are useless until they are within range!"

"Yes, Shipmistress!" the Navigator replied. As he said this, Sevana felt the ship rumble slightly. Looking at the shield readouts, she found, much to her surprise, that the bow shields had quickly dropped down to 28% of their original strength. An automated voice promptly said, "Bow shields failing!"

Thorek, who was nearby, said, "That's impossible! Our shields can't have failed that rapidly, unless…"

"…unless the Humans have energy weapons of their own," Sevana finished. Looking at her Damage Control Officer, she asked, "What are we being hit with right now?"

"Scanners indicate that we're being hit with high energy particle bolts and laser beams!" the Damage Control Officer reported, her voice quivering very slightly. "If this onslaught keeps up, our shields will be down, and our hull will be taking damage!" Another rumble, this one enough to shake the ship slightly, underscored her words. "Bow shields down to 10%! They're hitting us with everything they have!"

"Close in and fire the plasma cannons!" Sevana snarled. "I'll shake the heretics loose," she added quietly.

. . .

Onboard the Moscow, Janos watched as the plasma torpedoes quickly drew closer to the ship. Looking at a readout, he found that the missiles would impact the plasma torpedoes in roughly 10 seconds. Looking back up, he watched as the missiles quickly closed the distance. Now or never, he said to himself.

The missiles and plasma torpedoes smashed into each other with the fury of a storm. Each missile, getting close to the plasma torpedoes, quickly rushed in before detonating as close as they could in the hopes of disrupting the plasma bolus. To accomplish this, the missiles, as part of Kerensky's doctrine for fighting the Covenant, had been fitted with an experimental warhead, with the warhead being designed to disrupt the magnetic field holding the plasma torpedo together by generating a powerful magnetic pulse. This had led to them being named Magnetic-Pulse Warheads

It was here where Janos watched another triumph of SLDF and UNSC engineering. At the moment of detonation, each of the missiles generated a powerful magnetic pulse. The pulses were powerful enough that the plasma bolus, unable to hold together, was promptly blasted apart. On the bridge, a cheer erupted as the plasma torpedoes were quickly neutralized, with a similar cheer coming from the fleetwide COM.

Zhukov, who had run a few scans, said, "Looks like the Magnetic-Pulse warheads were effective."

"That they were," Janos observed. "That means that we can effectively neutralize the Covenant's means of long range indirect fire in space. We'll have to be careful with how we use them, though. They're still in short supply until the UNSC can begin manufacturing them. Continue engaging the enemy ships."

"Aye, Captain."

"Sir!" the Sensors Officer shouted. "Enemy shields are down!"

"Hit them with the Naval Autocannons!" Janos thundered.

"INCOMING WEAPONS FIRE!" the Sensors Officer shouted. The WarShips closed in, with the entire fleet now roughly five thousand kilometers apart from each other. Reaching it's effective firing range, the Heaven's Brilliant Bier opened fire with her plasma cannons and pulse lasers. Now the fight had gone from a long range sniper match, into a close range brawl.

Janos felt the ship vibrate as powerful munitions smacked into the hull of the Moscow. Plasma bolts traveling at high speed smacked into the armor plating of the ship, peeling off layers and layers of armor. Thankfully, the Star League's engineering prowess held out, with the tough outer layers withstanding multiple attacks from the Bier. "Damage?!" Janos shouted.

"Armor still intact!" the Damage Control Officer reported. "8% ablation on the starboard side of the ship! The Prinze Mugen and Nimbus are reporting similar levels of ablation!"

"Enemy ship is launching fighters!" the Sensors Officer shouted.

"Launch all fighters!" Janos ordered. "Fire the Naval Autocannons!"

"Aye, Captain!" the Fire Control Officer shouted.

On the front of the Moscow, the two bow-mounted Zeus-40 Series Naval Autocannons turned on their gimbal mounts towards the Heaven's Brilliant Bier. As soon as they were lined up on the target, both of the Naval Autocannons fired. Janos could feel two sharp jerks as the Naval Autocannons fired, sending two 830 kilogram ferrous slugs towards the enemy ship at extreme velocities. Given the distance the ships were from each other, it took around eight second for each slug to reach the Bier.

When they impacted, the effect was nothing short of devastating. Both slugs tore into the bow of the Heaven's Brilliant Bier, with one shooting through the Bier's secondary pinch fusion reactor, tearing it apart in an instant, while killing everyone inside of the ship. The second slug smacked into the same area and ricocheted off of a harder component. Tearing through more of the ship, it came to a stop after smacking into a bulkhead. A Grunt caught on the other side found itself pressed against the wall in a space no larger than an air vent, screaming at the top of its lungs all the while.

Onboard the bridge, Sevana felt the ship lurch twice as the slugs smashed into the hull, with the Shipmistress flung out of her command chair, while Thorek, who'd been clutching at the armrests, nearly fell out. Multiple other Sangheili fell out of their chairs as well, with one face planting on the ground. "Status?!" Sevana shouted as she pulled herself to her feet.

"Hull breach in the starboard bow!" the Damage Control Officer reported as she climbed back into her seat. "We've got multiple breached decks, as well as a fire on Deck 50! Scans indicate we were hit by a pair of ferric tungsten slugs!"

That surprised Sevana. Ferric-Tungsten slugs, she wondered to herself.

Nearby, Thorek said, "Projectiles?! What primitive species would use projectiles when they obviously have energy weapons?!"

"I don't know," Sevana replied, "but I intend to find out. Focus fire on the ship that fired the slugs at us!" Again, the ship rattled as more slugs tore into the hull of the ship.

"Hull breaches on the port aft section of the ship!" the Damage Control Officer shouted. "They're tearing us apart!"

Looking at the damage readout, Sevana could see the carnage for herself. In addition to the slugs that had smacked into the ship, large craters and gashes were now being cut and bored into the hull of the Heaven's Brilliant Bier. She then noticed a missile flying towards the ship. It flew erratically, throwing off numerous lasers that were firing at it, before smacking into the hull of the ship.

It was like a giant had slapped that section of the ship. Sevana was nearly thrown out of her seat again as the missile detonated. A loud, gong-like sound echoed in the ship, nearly deafening everyone onboard. Looking at another feed, Sevana was shocked to see a large gout of what appeared to be plasma tear through one of the hallways a camera feed showed. Another one showed a brilliant flash of light that winked out of existence as fast as it had come. When the light faded, there was a hole nearly five meters tall in the hull of the ship.

"Major damage to the port bow!" the Damage Control Officer shouted. "The ship's got a hole completely through it in that section! High levels of radiation detected as well! They must've refined their nuclear weapons!"

"That settles it!" Sevana decided. "Communications, send a distress signal immediately!"

That was when the first good news in a while came up. "Shipmistress!" the Comms Officer shouted. "I'm detecting multiple Slipspace Ruptures near our position! Scans indicate that they are Covenant ships!"

A zing of relief shot through Sevana. "Can you contact them?"

Just as she said this, a deep, masculine voice came in over the BattleNet. "This is the Arbiter, in command of the Fleet of Glorious Interdiction. Heaven's Brilliant Bier, respond."

Arbiter, Sevana said to herself. A moment later, she realized that the Hierarchs had appointed a new Arbiter. If that was the case, then he was likely here to help fight the Humans. Keying the BattleNet channel on her end, Sevana said, "Arbiter, this is Shipmistress Sevana of the Heaven's Brilliant Bier! We're taking heavy damage from a group of Human ships! Requesting immediate assistance!"

"Understood," came the reply. "Hold firm, Shipmistress. We will punish the Humans for their heresy!" The BattleNet channel clicked off a moment later.

"Continue fighting back!" Sevana ordered. "Teach these Humans the price of their heresy and arrogance!"

"At once, Shipmistress!" the other Sangheili replied/

. . .

Onboard the Moscow, Janos watched as multiple Slipspace Ruptures were detected by the sensors. "Captain!" Zhukov reported. "Scans estimate that roughly 60 Covenant WarShips are entering the area."

"Good thing we decided to bring Battle Group X-Ray," Janos said. Keying the COM, he said, "Admiral Janos to Admiral Cole. Are you there?"

"Affirmative," came the response. "Zhukov alerted us to the development. We're coming in right now to reinforce you! Hang tight! Help is on the way!"

"Roger, Admiral Cole," Janos replied. Keying the Fleetwide COM, he said, "Friendly reinforcements are inbound! Keep fighting!"

. . .

Onboard the Purity of Spirit, one of a handful of Ket-class Battlecruisers in the Fleet of Glorious Interdiction, Arbiter Ripa 'Moramee looked out over the battlefield that had been raging just before he and his ships had arrived. Everywhere he looked, it was nothing short of a mess. Large panels of hull plating had been ripped out of the Heaven's Brilliant Bier, while corpses and bodies floated in the cold vacuum of space. Small purple-white fires could be seen as plasma spewed out of ruptured plasma lines.

Then there were the Human ships that had been assaulting the Bier itself. Forty five warships were firing on the Bier, each one blasting away small chunks of the ship with their weapons. The only indicator that the Bier was being hit, though, were brilliant green and blue-white flashes and sparkles of light that flashed on the hull of the ship, with sections of what he assumed were hull plating having been ripped off of the Human ships, though they didn't seem to show any indication that they were damaged.

His lower mandibles clicked, the Sangheili equivalent of a shrug. Either way, the Humans will die, by my hand, he decided. Clenching a fist, he asked, "What is the status of the Heaven's Brilliant Bier?"

Another Sangheili quickly checked a pair of readouts. "The ship has taken moderate damage, Arbiter. I'm reading hull breaches on the starboard bow and port aft sections of the ship. I'm also reading high levels of radiation and a major hull breach on the port bow. Scans indicate that the Humans are using what appear to be energy weapons, though of a type previously unknown."

That had 'Moramee's attention almost instantly. "They are using energy weapons?" he asked.

"Yes, Arbiter," the other Sangheili replied.

'Moramee frowned. The previous reports concerning the Human ships indicated that they were armed only with kinetic weapons. Apparently, that was just a scouting group, he noted. "Move some of the ships to engage the Human ships! The others will shield the Heaven's Brilliant Bier as it retreats from battle!"

"By your command, Arbiter!" the other Sangheili replied.

Just then, the Sensors Officer shouted, "Arbiter! More Human ships arriving!"

'Moramee was just about to ask what that Sangheili meant when he saw the readouts for himself. Some sensor readings indicated a large surge of what appeared to be electromagnetic radiation, along with some exotic particles, while the others showed energy readings typical of Borer Drives. Looking at a LiDAR scan, he watched as dozens of Human warships appeared. A visual feed showed patches of space glowing brilliant blue-white, before extruding outwards to reveal Human ships of a design he didn't recognize, while others emerged out of Slipstream Space portals.

When it all finished, 'Moramee noted that there were roughly twenty five new warships supporting the larger fleet. Snarling, he said, "Intercept those ships and destroy them at once!"

. . .

Onboard the Everest, Admiral Cole was as busy as a bee as the Everest exited the Slipstream Space portal and back into real space. Around him, the crew was working very quickly, with officers coordinating the other ships, while ensigns made sure all of the systems were functional. Keying his COM, he said, "Admiral Janos, we've arrived on station! We're engaging the enemy fleet!"

"Roger that!" Janos replied. "We'll keep firing on the Heaven's Brilliant Bier! You take out the Covenant WarShips that have just arrived!"

"Understood!" Cole replied. Closing the COM, he said, "Sekmet, you there?"

Nearby, the holoraphic image of a woman with a lion's head dressed in ancient Egyptian clothes appeared. "Affirmative," she said. "What do you need?"

"Coordinate with the rest of the fleet and make sure the MACs ready for when we take out those Covenant ships!" Cole ordered.

"Aye, sir," Sekmet replied as her eyes flashed green. "It is a good thing that the Everest was refitted with the technology the SLDF uses on their WarShips."

"That it is," Cole agreed, even as the Everest and the rest of Battle Group X-Ray moved in to engage the Covenant fleet. Keying the fleetwide COM, he said, "All ships, fire at will at the Covenant warships! Take them down!" With that, all hell broke loose

Moving into position, the Everest, at Cole's command, began to open fire on one of the Covenant WarShips. Following the protocols written out by Cole and Nicholas Kerensky, the ship fired it's compliment of Heavy Naval PPCs and Naval Lasers to drain the Covenant ship's shields. Brilliant green and blue-white flashes erupted on the shields of one of the ships as the Everest fired on it.

Nearby, the other WarShips quickly began throwing in their firepower. The Halcyon, the namesake for the Halcyon-class of light cruisers, quickly began hurling PPC bolts and laser beams at a Covenant ship that was had over 500 meters of length on it. The Covenant ship fired back as well, only for the ferro-carbide armor plating installed to withstand the attacks while the Halcyon fired back. Soon, the Covenant ship had lost its shields, with the hull being relentlessly pounded by the Halcyon's Spitfire batteries

. . .

Onboard one of the fighters in the battle, Richard Wright was very much going to town on the Covenant fighters that had been launched. Throwing his Hellcat II into a high G chandelle, he quickly avoided being hit by a fighter that intelligence had classified as a Banshee. Continuing the high G turn, he quickly got behind the enemy fighter. Once he was locked on, he mimed pressing a firing stud on a joystick.

Sophisticated sensors in his neurohelmet, combined with information from the motion sensors in the gloves he wore, quickly told the DIC what weapon was being fired. There was a vibration as the Hellcat II fired one of the new machine-linked autocannons that the UNSC had developed for its Aerospace fighters. In that burst, five 30mm, ferric-tungsten slugs were shout out of the coilgun's muzzle at nearly seven kilometers a second.

No matter its attempts to avoid being destroyed, the Banshee was doomed. All five slugs smashed into the Banshee, ripping apart vital systems while shearing off one of the funky looking wings that it had. One of the shells tore into the fuel and propulsion modules, causing the fighter to explode in a brief flash of light. A moment later, Richard's fighter flew through the rapidly expanding cloud of debris.

"Target eliminated," he said. "Delta Squadron, form up on me! We've got enemy ASFs heading directly for the Heavy ASFs that are heading to one of the Covenant ships!"

"Copy, Delta Leader," came the response. A moment later, four Hellcat Iis and five Corsairs quickly formed up on Richard, before flying alongside him towards a flight of Covenant ASFs. A few of them, he noted, appeared to be very flat, with those resembling a teardrop in basic shape. Firing at it with the MLA, he watched as the projectiles ricocheted off of a shimmering blue-white field.

"Watch it! They've got shields!" he shouted. "Switch to lasers and PPCs if you've got 'em!"

"Copy that!" came the reply. Flying past the Covenant ASFs, Delta Squadron immediately split off from the merge, with the Covenant ASFs quickly doing the same. Coming around on a one-circle attack, Richard fired the ER Medium Pulse Lasers installed into his ASF. The shields on the Covenant fighter flared as the powerful laser beams tore into them.

"Got another one on your tail!" one of his men shouted. Looking behind himself, Richard spotted one of the new fighters coming at him. It quickly began to fire bolts of plasma, as well as what appeared to be pulse lasers. Throwing the fighter into a high G left turn, he began working to throw the fighter off of him.

"Need some help!" he shouted. "This guy's on my ass!"

"I've got 'im!" One of his men shouted. "He's toast!" Coming up behind the unknown fighter in his Corsair, Delta-3 began firing the ER Pulse Lasers installed into his fighter. Blue and green flashes of light erupted from the shields, before they seemed to shatter. The enemy fighter pilot, alerted to the situation, quickly peeled off, allowing Richard to fire at him. This time, the MLA slugs tore into the enemy fighter, blasting it apart in rapid order.

"Nice one!" he shouted. "Thanks!"

"You're welcome!" Delta-3 replied.

. . .

Onboard the Purity of Spirit, 'Moramee was barking out orders as the battle raged on. Sangheili all around him worked frantically at their stations as they continued doing what they could to assist the Heaven's Brilliant Bier. "Arbiter!" one shouted at him. "The Heaven's Brilliant Bier has evacuated the battle!"

"Some good news for a change," 'Moramee noted as he looked at the video feeds of the battle. It had been just ten minutes since they'd joined battle with the enemy, but now things were really becoming intense. Reports had come in, indicating that eight of the Humans warships had been destroyed. Looking at the video feeds, 'Moramee could see large chunks of hull floating in space, as well as fires that were burning out on some husks. He imagined seeing dead Humans floating in the void of space.

The battle hadn't been onesided in their favor, though. He'd gotten reports that the Radiant Perception, along with five Ceudar-pattern Corvettes had been destroyed. To make matters worse, eight Sinaris-pattern Heavy Destroyers had been either heavily damaged or destroyed by the Human ships. If things keep up like that, we'll be facing a defeat, he noted quietly.

"Arbiter!" his Sensors Officer shouted. "I'm detecting numerous Human vessels that are heading for the ones that we've launched to the surface already! I believe that they intend to intercept our ground forces!"

'Moramee snarled. "Send a flight of Banshees and Seraph fighters to cover them immediately!" Looking out towards the battle, he eyed the largest of the Human ships. Who are you, he wondered.

(Author's Q&A)

The True Skull: Very true, which is why new tech will be coming out over the course of the entire war.

Krieger Techpriest: Keep it up. I really enjoy your poetry.

SulliMike23: That it will.

SpaceCommander-09: Yes. A smart leader allows people that defect to them to help out, though they have to go through a 'testing phase' to make sure they're trustworthy.

Danny79: Yep. Consider 'Vortumee's mind blown.

clonezero: Indeed. As for the schism, it will begin earlier, though when it begins I won't say.

shypunk: Thank you.

MarauderPrime12: Thank you.

Guest #1: Thank you.

Just a Crazy-Man: Yes. Let's do it.

Blanchimont: Yes. The cracks and chasms are starting to open and widen.

edboy4926: Possibly.

RoyalTwinFangs: Thank you.

Guest #2: Thank you.

Chronus1326: I'm glad you did. It's always interesting seeing an Elite's pride having holes poked into it.

zecran: Me too.

PoofyOhio: Yes, there were, but they were logical ones. I understand where you're coming from, though.