Here comes the first massive battle in this 3-part set of chapters, so LOVE IT!
Chapter 18, "The Deciding Battle: Part 2".
A Loyalist battle group awaited us. Our portly vessel was just beginning its starting sequences when they charged their lateral cannons for a torpedo barrage. "Override safeties on the engines: Full Burn out of the bay!" Minor 'Sakamee ordered to Lt. Potter. "But that'll tear her up! We wouldn't survive-"he protested, but Johnson cut him off, "Do it Marine!" he instructed. "Y-Yes, sirs!" he replied, and hastily punched in the codes that lay out before him. "Launch on my mark, Lt." 'Sakamee informed him, waiting for the small, vital window to pull it off. "3…2…1…Mark!" 'Sakamee bellowed. Potter thrust the engines; a terrible shockwave rattled the ship as it burst from the ship bay, just as the battle group's torpedoes fired.
"Bring us about! Input commands to the Shield Generator to focus the field of strength on the starboard side!" 'Sakamee ordered. I was on WepOps, and charged the turrets on the aforementioned side of the ship. 'A funeral pyre…' I thought malevolently as I prepared to fire them. Their torpedoes slammed into the focused shield, depleting about three-fourths of its power. That left me the opportunity to strike. From nowhere, another salvo hit us at port. With shields on starboard, the hull took the full brunt, and atmosphere erupted from several decks of the ship. "Redirect shields to full coverage! Divert half power from weapons, and prepare for evasive maneuvers!" 'Sakamee growled. The shields slowly slipped back around the ship as we listed to starboard. Fortunately, we got our first good break in an eternity; a Destroyer shot six torpedoes through a single ship, and a fleet of Seraph fighters swarmed from a Carrier. They were friendly contacts.
"Klez, give me a firing solution! Karn, bring us to course six zero nine!" 'Sakamee ordered. "We'll have sufficient power to fire torpedoes in five minutes." I replied, whilst Karn directed the ship to its new course. "No time! I want those launched NOW!" the Minor shouted. Had this been routine, I'd have put him in his place; I was in command of the overall operation, but I realized what he wanted to do. "Yes. Firing now." I answered steadily. The group was now disconcerted between the three ships taking them out. "Alright, that was the easy part," 'Sakamee began, as our torpedoes impacted with a weakened Carrier, and reeled in disarray, "we're going after the tough one now: there, in the back. That's an Alpha Class Sniper Ship. The Black Phantasm, I believe. It poses the greatest threat, so it's our primary target." He instructed. Almost as if it was listening, and it probably was, the ship began to retreat.
"Bring us to bear! Track that ship through SlipSpace!" 'Sakamee ordered. With our new friends keeping the battle group at bay, we plotted a course for the stealth ship's Slipstream vector. A large hole appeared before the nose of the Cruiser, and we shot into the Slipstream. "It has a course plotted for these coordinates, Major. Where is this?" Lt. Potter asked. "Here, let me see that," I asked, and took a good look at it, "this is the Sol system. And that means…Earth." I replied. "ETA to Sol system in twelve hours." Karn announced. "I'll be God damned. They're gonna snipe us outta the sky and glass it!" Potter grumbled. "No, they won't. At least not all of it," Johnson stated matter-of-factly, "they're gonna go for the Ark. Whatever that is. We don't have too much intel right now. And the guy who gave us the info is back on Delta Halo." He grunted. "Sir, we're receiving a signal from another ship. It's the Purity of Spirit! They say they have some allies to deliver to us, as well as some of the good Sergeant's friends." Karn informed us.
Linking up with a ship in SlipSpace was hard enough, but making a ship-to-ship personnel transfer was unheard of. Then again, so was everything else up to this point. "We cannot break our course with the Phantasm! If we do, we'll almost definitely be too late to take it out before it deals heavy damage to the Fleet." 'Sakamee defied. "If we plot a planet-side intercept with the Phantasm at Earth, we can trap it between the fleets. We just need to confirm with the UNSC, or whatever you call your organization. In the mean time, we'll drop out of the Stream and rendezvous with the Spirit." Answered a voice from the doorway. We turned to see the legend himself: Special Operations Commander Fara 'Ralkamee, a.k.a. "Half-Jaw" replied to 'Sakamee. "Sir!" 'Sakamee snapped to attention, "With all do respect, we'll lose the only chance we have to save the Fleet at Earth!" he argued. "Not with the friends we'll be picking up." Half-Jaw replied frighteningly calmly.
"If I may interrupt," I announced, "we still have some unwelcome guests aboard this vessel. What of them?" I inquired. "Isn't it obvious? We fry'em!" Johnson replied. A grunt of agreement came from the marines, and I decided it was also for the best. "Alright then. Johnson, take a platoon through the bow of the ship. I'll take a team to the stern. After we've cleared them out, we'll rendezvous back here. Is that fine with you?" I suggested. "I'm fine with it. Potter, you and a couple others are with me! Do whatever ya want from here, Klez." Johnson ordered, and gave a salute to all of us. We returned it. "Alright, 'Sakamee. You, and a few other Elites, are coming with me. We'll do what we can and return here before we reach the Spirit." I ordered, and everyone prepared for the battles to come…
Here is Pt. 2. Pt. 3 will be up soon, so don't fret.