Episode 9: Confrontation
Two days have passed since the Macross left the two carriers Daedalus and Prometheus behind on Halo. During Lisa's first true command, her recon mission ends in disaster. Luckily Maximilian Sterling and the Master Chief were able to salvage the mission and rescue the captured RDF personnel. Now the Covenant leaders discuss further plans for Halo and Humanity.
Fleet Master Nola 'Thanosee approached the activated Holo-pedestal. The Holo-pedestal displayed the silhouettes of the three high prophets and the form of a Brute. Nola paid no mind to the Brute present in the hologram, and instead prostrated himself on the Holo pad so the Prophets could see him on their end. "My Prophets, I bring the most urgent news to you. We have discovered one of the Halo ring worlds my lords, the fleet master reported.
"One of the Halos! Our search has ended my brothers!" Regret stated with much joy in his voice.
"Yes, but what of the Human Battle Fortress? The… SDF-1? What happened Fleet Master?" Truth asked intently.
"The ship lead us to the Holy artifact my Lord, but there is grave news to report." Nola stated with distain.
"Oh, and what is it?" Mercy asked, interested in these new events.
"The Zentradi and the Humans are present on the Halo. We have…."
"Zentradi! They dare to defile that most holy place! They, and the Human infestation, must be eliminated at once!" Regret spouted, cutting Nola's report short.
"Yes, this must be done. So Fleet Master, you must have captured the Battle Fortress," Truth supposed.
"No Master. The Zentradi fleet stood in our way," Nola explained.
"Unacceptable Fleet Master! Even though you found a Halo, our enemies have gathered there and will continue to gather there now that the Human Battle Fortress is away. Our two enemies must have some sort of alliance. We must finish their destruction if we are to conclude the Great Journey with as little resistance as need be," Mercy stated.
"Of course my Prophets, but my forces are stretched thin throughout the Ring. And if what you say is true, then we can expect more of the Heretic knaves to engage us here. Perhaps a secondary attack force should concentrate on the remaining Human strongholds while my forces attempt to unlock Halo's secrets," Nola proposed to the Prophet hierarchy.
"Yes, your plan is acceptable. Bracktanus!" Truth cried out. The Brute in the Holo-pedestal had remained quiet throughout this report, but when his name was called he grunted in acknowledgement.
"Bracktanus, take the fleet of Pious Might and strike into human territory. Find the humans' home base and destroy it. Nola, you must destroy the Zentradi fleet on Halo. Only then we will be able to complete the Great Journey and join the Forerunners," Truth concluded. "Are we in agreement?" He asked. The fellow prophets nodded to each other. Then the Holo-pedestal discontinued transmission and the Golden Elite rose and walked off to his control room.
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Meanwhile, the two Sea Sergeants, escorted by the five Veritech fighters, landed on the carrier Prometheus. The bay door carrying of the craft carrying Lisa Hayes opened up to reveal Commander Fokker waiting there with several medics.
"Commander Hayes, I'm glad you made it back. Major Silva was threatening to assume command of the expedition," Roy informed his superior as she was placed on a stretcher.
"I should have expected that. Inform Major Silva that I'm back onboard. Also, have Ensigns Hunter and Dixon report to the infirmary once they land," Lisa ordered as she was carried below deck in a narrow stairway. The sound of two Veritechs landing on the top deck resounded as they entered a cramped passageway.
"Of course commander. Is there anything else?" Roy asked.
"Yes, maintain constant patrols of the surrounding area. Also have all section leaders report to the Prometheus in a couple of hours. We need to discuss what we are going to exactly do while we're on this ring." Roy nodded.
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As the rescue team relaxed from the recent mission, Sergeant Johnson and his platoon make it to their cabin and reminisced about the recent battle.
"That was the weirdest mission I've ever been on. We board a covenant ship and meet only minor resistance," Besenti commented as he placed his assault rifle in his locker.
"Minor resistance? Tell that to Ogle. The man gets wasted on his first mission by a plasma grenade. That right there sucks man," Mendoza replied as he closed his locker.
"Yep, he was a good kid. I think I'll go pay a visit to his wife. Ha ha!" Johnson stated sarcastically. Most of his platoon was stunned by Johnson's blatant disregard for the dead comrade. Many of them muttered to themselves about Johnson's inconsiderate attitude, but Lance Corporal DeLuna was too fixated in his own thoughts. His mind rushed with the memory of Corporal Ogle and how they had both grown up together and joined the military shortly before the crash of the SDF-1 on Macross Island. Now that his friend was dead, he wondered to himself whether or not he would be next in the coming months, or if he'd see Macross city one last time.
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"Well, your fine Lieutenant Commander Hayes. Your shoulder seems to be healing fine, but you seem to be a little malnourished. I suggest that you keep your sling on for at least a couple weeks, and eat something," Medic Mendez commented as he looked over Lisa's Medical chart.
"Thank you. How are Ensign Hunter and Ensign Dixon?" Lisa asked.
"Rick? He's all right. He suffered no real injuries, just some bumps and bruises. As for Ben, he has a slight concussion but he should be fine in a couple of days," Mendez stated as he placed Lisa's chart in to the slot at the foot of her bed. "Oh one thing; would you like to see them?"
"No thank you. I should get up to the bridge and find out what's going on," Lisa commented as she got up from her bed and readjusted her sling.
"Of course ma'am. Perhaps you should change your clothes and freshen up before you go," Mendez suggested.
"Thank you Medic, you may carry on." Lisa stated as she walked out of the infirmary.
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"Hi Rick! How is it going you little devil?" Roy asked as he entered the room where Rick and Ben were recuperating.
"Oh, hi big brother, do you when we'll be able to get out of here. We're both perfectly fine," Rick commented.
"Yeah skipper, I only have a bump on my head." Ben added as a nurse entered the room.
"Uh, nurse, do you have any idea when we will be able to leave?" Rick asked.
"Oh, not long Ensign. We're just running some more tests to find out if pilot's skulls are made of granite or not," the nurse stated sarcastically as she put down Rick's med chart.
"Well, my head is definitely made of it," Ben quipped in return as he pointed to the bandages wrapped around his head. The grouped laughed among themselves for a few seconds.
"Nice one Ensign Dixon. You guys are free to go. Just don't get yourself into any more crashes," the nurse said as she walked out of the recovery room. As the two pilots started to get up, Second Lieutenant Jack Archer entered the room and asked Roy whether or not Izzy was in this room. Roy nodded and pointed to the closed curtain at the end of the room.
"Uh, Izzy, is that you?" Jack asked as he tried to move the curtain just enough for him to enter.
"JACK! Wait! I need to… fix myself up!" Izzy exclaimed hurriedly.
"Oh sorry, I was just seeing if you were ok," Jack said as he closed the curtain in front of him. There was a slight tinge of pink on his cheeks now.
"Okay, you can come in Jack," Izzy said, looking into a mirror while hurriedly fixing her short brunette hair. Then she readjusted her robe and sat up on the bed's backboard as Jack entered.
"Well, come on slackers. You can't stay in bed forever," Roy said as he patted Rick on the back and lead both of the pilots out of the room. "Go get him Izzy," Roy thought as he closed the door behind him.
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Several hours had passed since the rescue team arrived back on the Prometheus. The Section leaders of the Robotech Defense Forces left on Halo were about to meet each other when a radar operator called Lisa Hayes to the bridge of the Prometheus.
"Commander Hayes, I'm glad you're here. We have a situation developing!" The radar operator reported as Lisa entered the CIC room.
"What is it!" Lisa asked quickly as she sat down on the center chair.
"We have contacts, and lots of them, approaching on two vectors! The island farthest away from us is about to be attacked from the air, Commander."
"Scramble orders to all Veritechs! Have the Daedalus and Prometheus submerge once the fighters are away!" Lisa ordered quickly.
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"Repeat, enemy attack! All Veritechs launch immediately!" Lisa ordered over the PA system of the Prometheus.
"You heard her, this is the real thing! Now let's go!" Roy yelled in excitement as he boarded Skull One.
"I'm with you big brother!" Rick called out as his Veritech and Ben's were lifted onto the flight deck.
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"Very interesting," Dr. Lang said to himself as he looked at the readout on a small computer panel. Dr. Lang and his security team had traveled to the fourth island and were surveying it when they discovered an underground passage that had lead deep into the island's core a few hours ago. He touched the panel and the Hologram in front of it came to life and showed a holographic presentation of the ring world.
"Most interesting," Dr. Emil Lang said to himself.
"Odd how I knew what button to push on the touch screen," Emil supposed.
"Dr. La.. this .. Sec… Lieut…nt McCasky! Keep yo… inside …. island! We are….." The jumbled radio transmission died with a large explosion. Even the chamber that Dr. Lang and his security detachment were shook violently.
"Got to be one of ze Deztroidz exploding," Lang observed from the recent quake.
"I take it that you heard that transmission," Sergeant Lister said as he entered the. "Hmmm… is that some sort of map?"
"Yes Mazter Zergeant. I think I just found ze control room for thiz Halo. Zere it iz, zector 77," Dr. Lang informed the sergeant.
"That's good. But how are we going to get out of here?" Lister asked.
"We wait. We simply wait," Dr. Lang stated as he looked at the Hologram again.
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"I need some help over here!" Ben yelled into the radio system as he tried to evade four Banshees that had singled out his slower moving Veritech. Then, as he tried to barrel roll out of the sights of the four fighters, a blue Veritech switched to its batteloid form while in mid flight and fired off its gun pod into the group of fighters that were chasing Ben. Three of the fighters explode as the bullets connected with their marks, while the fourth narrowly dodged the spray of bullets.
"Wow! Ah, I've been hit!" Ben screamed as the surviving banshee scored a few hits, one plasma round puncturing something important because Ben realized shortly after the hits because his steering became sluggish.
"Ben, climb and bank!" Rick ordered as he turned his fighter around to find Ben. Ben's Veritech, while spewing smoke, spun around with the banshee still in hot pursuit. "There!" Rick exclaimed as he fired his nose lasers, incinerating the Banshee.
"Skull squadron! Reform and cover Sepia squadron's retreat. Wolf try to…. What! Wolf squadron, you have several new contacts closing on your position!" Lisa stated unnervingly as she received more information from her crew.
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"Miriya. You are the best fighter pilot the Zentradi posses. You are to destroy all Covenant fighter craft in the area. In no way should you engage micronians the Covenant call Humans. Shot down all purple fighter craft," Breetai ordered.
"Ha! The best Zentradi pilot defending some micronians? Very well then Breetai," Miriya said out loud. "There are times when I wonder why Dolza had me join Breetai's force instead of Azonia's," she thought as she locked onto a second wave of Banshees. "All Zentradi fighters, lock your targets and engage!" Miriya ordered as she fired off a full missile salvo into the hapless Covenant battle group.
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"The Aliens are attacking the Covenant fighter groups Lt., but they're totally avoiding our forces," the radar operator observed.
"Pull back all fighters. Do not engage the aliens in green!" Lisa ordered over the radio system.
"Ma'am we are getting a strange transmission from the other side of Halo."
"Put it on!" Lisa ordered as she rose from her chair and walked over to the operator's console.
The transmission came over the loudspeaker, slightly distorted but clear enough to understand. "To micro…. Uh, Humans. My name is Breetia. We both have a common enemy. The Covenant. We wish an end of hostilities between our peoples and to form an alliance. We would like to receive an emissary from your people and negotiate further."
"Interesting." Lisa said to herself.
"Ma'am, the Covenant are vectoring toward another group of fighters and one large object closing fast!"
"One large ob… a CVS frigate!" Lisa exclaimed. "So, the Covenant means business. Well, let's show them something they'll never forget. Where's the frigate now?" She asked hastily.
"The frigate just broke through our defense line. They're playing laser tag with our fighters and the Zentradi. They also seem to be launching some troop ships of their own," the radar operator replied.
"Raise theship and warm up our onboard weapon systems," Lisa ordered. As the Prometheus rose above the surface of the water its twelve Bofors RLT-2 twin barreled laser turrets and twelve Warhawk MLB-10 missile launchersextended from their protective sleeves and acquired the lumbering Covenant Frigate.
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"This is Commander Hayes to all Veritech squadrons. Clear the Covenant frigate's general position!" Lisa's resounding voice called into the comm. system.
"Don't have to tell me twice," Max said as shifted his Veritech into fighter mode, chasing another group of banshees. "Man, that alien pilot sure can fight," Max thought, watching one of the Zentradi fighters bring down another Banshee.
"Yes, that Micronian is an excellent pilot. It is a shame we can't fight each other," Miriya thought to herself as she witness the blue batteloid shoot down two more banshees.
"Hey, is that the Prometheus? What's it doing?" Ben asked as he saw the Prometheus rise up out of the sea. Then twenty four laser shots set to anti-ship mode streamed from the Prometheus's weapons banks and hit the energy shields of the Covenant frigate head on.
On a nearby island, the booming noise of what sounded like battleship guns firing could be heard as tactical reflex shells finally downed the weakened shields of the frigate. The two monster Destroids on the first island continued their shelling as the Prometheus let out a hail of laser and missile fire that ripped large gashes into the hull of the frigate. Finally one of the monster shells ripped right through the gravity control system of the frigate and the Covenant vessel plummeted toward the ocean below. As the frigate sank deeper into the water, the long docile Daedalus closed in for the kill. It's eight Mk82 760mm tubes fired off a full spread of torpedoes that finished off the frigate once and for all.
"Well men, we did it. Let's head for home," Roy commented upon seeing the explosion of the Covenant ship, a massive water spout a click away from the Prometheus.
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"Ma'am, enemy ship destroyed, but we lost contact with the marine outpost on the fourth island. Dr. Lang was reported to be on the island during the attack. Several Covenant drop ships were spotted near the area," the radar operator reported.
"Have the Master Chief and a rescue squad move out at once," Lisa replied as she looked out the window. "So much devastation," She thought.
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In the next episode, the Master Chief and a rescue team attempt to find Dr. Lang on the fourth island while Lieutenant Commander Lisa Hayes tries to open communications with the Zentradi. Don't miss Silent Cartographer, the next amazing adventure in Robotech/Halo.
