Chapter 10: The Brink of Annihilation
UNSC Cruiser Talon in the vicinity of Earth
8th Cycle, 5th Division, 3rd Stage, 9th Age of Reclamation (Covenant Holy Calendar)
1200 hours, October 27, 2552 (UNSC Military Calendar)
Commodore Frank Schmidt sat in his command chair aboard the Talon. The massive warship had been recently refit with some of the best technology the UNSC could offer. The Marathon-class cruiser had fifty Inferno missile pods with twenty missiles each. The Inferno missiles were an improvement upon the now outdated Archer missiles. They were faster, more agile, and more devastating than their predecessors. Each Inferno missile was essentially a ten kiloton nuke. The small yield meant that the EMP would be less intense and would not travel very far, so the Infernos could be fired from the same distance that Archers usually were. Unfortunately, the Inferno missiles were very expensive so very few ships received them. The Talon was one of those lucky ships.
The Cruiser also boasted two Magnetic Accelerator Cannons. One was refit like the Pillar of Autumn's to fire three light rounds in rapid succession that would break apart on impact sending shrapnel through an enemy ship at incredible speeds. The second MAC fired a single heavy round capable of passing through a five kilometer long Covenant assault carrier lengthwise.
In addition to the main weapons, the Cruiser carried a squadron of Longsword interceptors, five Shiva nuclear warheads each with a hundred megaton yield, a large number of fifty caliber point defense guns, and an unprecedented two and a half meters of Titanium-A battle plate.
Even with all that firepower, Commodore Schmidt was still nervous. This was because fifteen minutes ago the Covenant arrived at Earth with a fleet of over two hundred fifty warships. And to make things worse, they had brought this new ship unlike anything the Humans had ever seen, and it was taking out their ships left and right as if they were mosquitoes.
The Commodore and his flotilla of twenty frigates and destroyers had taken out about ten ships without losing any of their own since the Covenant arrived. By Human standards that was good progress. But still, the Covenant fleet hadn't dropped below two hundred in numbers, and the Humans had lost nearly a hundred ships and defense stations. Schmidt watched the center viewscreen nervously as the strange triangular ship the Covenant brought with them turned toward his flotilla.
"All ships, evasive maneuvers!" he yelled. A camera nearby constantly recorded him so all the ships under his command could see and hear him at all times.
The one-star Admiral braced himself in his chair as the Talon veered sharply to the left. Suddenly, a bright purple beam of light erupted from the strange ship and struck the frigate Barracuda to the right of the Talon. Parts of the Barracuda exploded as the beam passed through several Archer pods and the armory. Muffled pings were heard as shrapnel from the frigate bounced off the Talon's battle plate.
Schmidt would have ordered his flotilla to regroup and counter but he had received orders directly from Fleet Admiral Hood not to engage that ship. However, there was no need to attack the ship because it did not fire a second time. It just floated as if it was dead. Something odd was going on.
"All ships regroup in delta formation bearing two-eight-five degrees and zero degrees inclination. All engines at one-zero-zero percent," Schmidt ordered. Viewscreens all around the bridge showed all sides surrounding the cruiser, and the Commodore watched his flotilla form a triangle with his ship in the lead. They were heading straight for a Covenant battle group and flanking it.
"Eagle, Atlantis, and Weatherill concentrate on the destroyer. Everyone else: pick your targets and fire at will," the Commodore hid his anxiousness well while giving commands. He turned to his own crew, "Lieutenant Rhodes, arm Inferno pods A through E and both MACs. Franklin, calculate a firing solution with the missiles and light rounds on the nearest frigate and the heavy round on the one just right of the first."
"Solution calculated, sir," Franklin appeared on a pedestal next to the command chair. His blue figure was that of a scientist with jacket and glasses. He, like Cortana, was a "Smart" AI. There was no limit to his learning abilities.
"Infernos armed, and MACs are at seventy-five percent, sir," Lieutenant Derek Rhodes announced.
"Good, fire on my mark," Schmidt said calmly. He turned to the camera, "Stay in formation until the enemy is engaged. If the group is not eliminated after the first salvo, break off from the formation."
"Covenant ships at thirty thousand kilometers and closing, sir," Lieutenant Tao Zheng said from the navigations console.
"Fire Infernos, Lieutenant Rhodes," the Commodore ordered.
"Infernos away," Rhodes announced.
Plumes of exhaust streaked across the blackness of space from every ship in the flotilla. Thousands of missiles, Archers and Infernos, targeted the eight Covenant ships.
"MACs at full charge," Rhodes said.
"Fire MACs," Schmidt ordered.
"MACs firing," came the reply from the weapons station.
The entire ship shuddered as the cannons fired. Four white-hot slugs of molten metal flew from the ship at an incredible speed along with several others from the rest of the flotilla. Motes of red light started to collect along the lateral lines of the Covenant ships.
"Sir, the Covenant ships are charging their plasma turrets," Lieutenant Junior Grade Justin Braxton anxiously said from the ops station.
The MAC rounds overtook the missiles and splashed against the shields of the Covenant ships. The shield on the first frigate absorbed the first two rounds but they flickered bright silver and disappeared as the third round went through the ship leaving a two meter wide hole all the way through the ship from the port to starboard side. The Covenant launched their salvo of Plasma torpedoes at the UNSC ships. Ten blazing red balls of energy traversed the empty space between the two forces. The heavy round from the Talon struck the second frigate and passed right through the center. The ship exploded as the MAC round hit the ship's reactor. Seconds later, balls of fire blossomed from the side of the first frigate as the Infernos exploded. If the explosions didn't disable the ship, the EMPs surely would.
The other ships in the Covenant battle group were hit as well. The destroyer took three MAC rounds in the side before its shield died, but blue flashes from pulse lasers erupted from the side of the destroyer and nearly half of the Archer missiles exploded before they were even close to the ship. The other half made it and detonated along the side, but it wasn't enough to do sufficient damage to the ship. On the other hand, two other frigates exploded and the three remaining frigates were damaged. At the extreme speeds that the ships were moving it was hard to aim the unguided MAC rounds. Many missed their intended targets and the defensive pulse lasers destroyed many of the Archer missiles. They Humans couldn't afford to have poor accuracy, especially when the fate of Earth was at stake.
"Plasma torpedo impact in twenty seconds, sir," Lieutenant Braxton announced.
"All ships, break off and do what you can against the remaining targets," Commodore Schmidt ordered to the flotilla. The ships on either side of the Talon veered off in every direction possible. Schmidt turned to his own crew, "Lieutenant Zheng, set heading to three-three-zero degrees."
"New heading: three-three-zero degrees, sir," Zheng furiously tapped his controls.
"Lieutenant Braxton, engines at one hundred ten percent."
"Engines at one-one-zero percent, sir," Lieutenant Braxton's hands floated fluidly over his control panel. "Reactor red line in ten minutes."
The huge warship abruptly turned to the right. It passed under another ship barely missing it by ten meters. On the viewscreens multiple plasma torpedoes hit three frigates and a destroyer. The small frigates stood no chance against the destructive power of the plasma torpedoes, especially if it was more than one torpedo, but the destroyer, though heavily damaged, was still operational. One of the other destroyers in the Commodore's flotilla attempted the Keyes Loop. It flew straight into a pair of torpedoes and used its emergency thrusters to jump to the left at the last second. The pair of red blobs arced around to follow the destroyer, which was now on a collision course with a Covenant frigate. The UNSC destroyer skimmed over the top of the frigate and in so doing took out the shield of the smaller ship. The plasma torpedoes, being less agile than the Human destroyer splashed along the side of the frigate and slowly melted the ship away. Suddenly a plasma torpedoes slammed into the side of the Talon.
"Torpedo impact on decks three through six, port side, aft section," Lieutenant Braxton wiped the sweat from his forehead. "It's burning through the armor plating, sir."
"Evacuate all compartments with imminent hull breach and vent the atmosphere," Schmidt tried to look as calm as possible to keep the bridge crew in line.
"Venting atmosphere. Hull breach on deck four," Braxton had troubles keeping his hands steady as he type his commands. "Hull breach has been contained on decks four and five. Hull temperature cooling."
"Lieutenant Rhodes, arm MACs and Inferno pods F through J," the Commodore settled down a little when the plasma stopped burning through his armor, but it wasn't over yet.
"Infernos ready and MACs are charged," Rhodes seemed to be suffering from the same anxiety as the rest of the crew and his hands shook as he armed the weapons.
"Lieutenant Zheng, turn this ship around," Schmidt said,
"Aye sir, new heading one-five-zero degrees," Zheng nervously typed in the command. The Talon rotated a hundred eighty degrees and the engines roared as the shipped slowed to a stop and accelerated in the opposite direction.
"Franklin, let's target the destroyer this time," Schmidt suggested.
"Yes sir. Firing solution calculated," Franklin said with a slight nod.
"Rhodes, fire at will," Schmidt ordered.
"Infernos away, sir," Rhodes said with a smirk. That kind of firepower should take out that destroyer. "MACs firing in eight seconds."
The crew watched as the missiles flew towards the destroyer. They noticed that other UNSC ships had fired at the three remaining Covenant ships. The Talon shuddered again as the MACs fired. Four white bolts streaked across the space at one tenth the speed of light. The Covenant destroyer took the three light rounds before its shield flickered and died. But pinpoints of red light started to collect along the side of the destroyer as its three plasma turrets charged. The heavy round then struck the stern and left a gaping hole in the ship. The impact sent the ship into a slow spin, which allowed the Inferno missiles to cover a larger area along the ship. Blots of fire appeared as the Infernos exploded along the side. The purple armor of the Covenant ship was blasted away and the inner decks could be seen. Orange fires blazed throughout the vessel and white mist plumed out into space as corridors and compartments explosively decompressed. Despite the carnage, the Covenant ship managed to launch two plasma torpedoes at the UNSC cruiser before two more MAC rounds and several hundred Archer missiles from other UNSC ships finally disabled the massive Covenant destroyer. The structure of the ship had been weakened so much that even the slow spin was tearing it apart. The bridge crew cheered as the alien ship was ripped apart and the remaining Covenant frigates in the battle group were dispatched.
"Sir, plasma torpedo impact in thirty seconds," Lieutenant Braxton shouted over the cheering. The bridge was suddenly silent.
On the starboard viewscreen, the UNSC frigate Weatherill flew past in the opposite direction and intercepted the torpedoes taking both in the side. The frigate was already beyond repair and the crew sacrificed themselves to save a much more valuable ship. The small ship floated dead in space as the plasma ate through its meter of armor plating like a blowtorch through butter.
"Lieutenant Braxton, did any lifeboats launch from the Weatherill?" Commodore Schmidt asked.
"A few, sir. Only enough to hold the marines and ODSTs on board," Lieutenant Braxton turned to face the Commodore with a grave look on his face.
The Commodore took a deep breath, wiped the sweat from his forehead, and stood up. He took a minute and watched the viewscreens around him. He surveyed the battlefield around Earth. Red blobs of plasma floated everywhere, white-hot bolts streaked from ship to ship as MAC rounds were fired, and dead hulks of ships littered the battlefield. Occasionally a large explosion could be seen as a nuclear warhead exploded. But the strange triangular ship the Commodore saw earlier was nowhere in sight anymore.
"All ships beta formation bearing one-six-eight degrees and zero-zero-five degrees inclination, all engines at zero-eight-zero percent," Schmidt sat back down and took a look at his own bridge crew. They slumped back in their chairs breathing heavily. That battle was too close. If it weren't for the sacrifice of the Weatherill they would be in big trouble.
"New heading is one-six-eight degrees, sir," Zheng said with more stability in his voice.
"Engines at zero-eight-zero percent, sir. Reactor is cooling," Lieutenant Braxton regained control over his trembling hands.
The remaining fifteen ships in the flotilla formed a vertical diamond around the Talon. The group flew slightly upwards in hopes of catching another battle group by surprise by attacking from above.
"Franklin, estimate Human and Covenant casualties," the one-star Admiral knew he wouldn't like the answer but he had to know. "And put them on my data pad." He suddenly thought of the morale of his crew.
"Right away, sir," Franklin said and disappeared into his pedestal.
Figures appeared on Frank Schmidt's personal data pad. An estimated seventy-five Human ships remained out of the fleet of two hundred ten and approximately half of the three hundred original Super MAC defense stations remained. The Covenant fleet still had nearly one hundred fifty ships. The UNSC had lost over two hundred fifty ships compared to the Covenant losses of only one hundred. This is why the UNSC had to outnumber the Covenant three to one in previous battles, and most of those battles were still losses. Now the Humans faced odds that were slowly changing against them.
Schmidt read a little further and found that the UNSC had another eighty ships en route from the Inner Colonies that would arrive sometime within the next half hour. Unfortunately, the battle might not last another half hour because he just read that the Covenant had made landfall near Alaska and northern Canada. That was where the power generators for half the orbital defense stations were. If the Covenant took those out, the UNSC wouldn't stand a chance.
Several minutes later, Commodore Schmidt's flotilla met up with another Covenant battle group of an assault carrier, three destroyers, and three frigates. Even though this group was more powerful than the last, the UNSC had the element of surprise by dropping down on top of them.
"Sir, we will be directly over the enemy ships in sixty seconds," Lieutenant Zheng said from the navigations console.
"All ships change course to zero-eight-two degrees declination. Stay in formation beta until we engage the enemy," the Commodore said to the camera. He watched the group rotate as a whole and accelerate downwards towards the enemy ships.
"Course changed to zero-eight-two degrees declination," Zheng replied.
"All frigates target the carrier, all destroyers fire at will," Schmidt hoped the Covenant wouldn't notice them until it's to late. He didn't want the carrier to launch its Seraph fighters. To make sure, he would target the carrier also.
"Arm MACs, Lieutenant Rhodes," Schmidt ordered.
"MAC guns are hot sir," Rhodes said.
"Franklin, target that carrier."
"Calculated, sir," Franklin appeared on the pedestal again.
"Frigates fire on my mark," Schmidt ordered into the camera.
"Covenant ships at twenty thousand kilometers and closing, sir," Zheng announced.
"Fire!" Schmidt yelled.
Over a dozen MAC rounds streaked towards the massive carrier and several others targeted the destroyers. Plumes of exhaust followed as over five hundred Archer missiles trailed behind. The MAC rounds hit. The carrier's shield absorbed five rounds from the frigates, but the Talon's rounds and several others went through. The top of the five kilometer long carrier was riddled with holes ranging from two to five meters wide. The Archers impacted several seconds later and the entire dorsal structure of the carrier was engulfed in flames. When the fire and smoke cleared, Schmidt saw that the huge carrier was rotating and its lateral lines were collecting plasma.
"Damn it, how is that thing still alive," Schmidt cursed. "All ships break formation!"
"Sir, we have additional smaller contacts," Lieutenant Zheng said. "They've launched their Seraphs!"
"Lieutenant Rhodes, arm one of our Shiva warheads, and set it to remote fuse. Lieutenant Zheng, change course to one-three-six degrees and zero-one-five degrees declination," Schmidt had a plan to take out that carrier.
"Shiva is armed, sir," Rhodes replied with a smirk. He knew what the Commodore was thinking.
"New course is one-three-six degrees and zero-one-five degrees declination, sir" Zheng said as the ship rotated and leveled.
"All ships get to minimum safe distance for Shiva warhead. Target is the carrier," the Commodore said to the camera. He turned to Lieutenant Rhodes, "Set the Shiva for maximum burn for thirty seconds directly behind us, and fire the warhead."
"Shiva is away, sir," Rhodes said anxiously.
"Lieutenant Zheng, let me know when we are two hundred thousand kilometers away," Commodore Schmidt said.
"Aye sir. Approaching one hundred thousand kilometer distance," Zheng replied.
Every ship in the flotilla scattered in every direction. But as they did so, the Covenant launched a salvo of plasma torpedoes. The torpedoes accelerated towards the fleeing UNSC forces and caught two already crippled frigates in the engines, which subsequently exploded.
"Passing two hundred thousand kilometer mark, sir," Zheng announced.
Schmidt spun around in his seat and watched the rear viewscreen. The carrier was a fraction of the size it was earlier.
"Detonate the Shiva!" Schmidt commanded.
A huge ball of flame swallowed the carrier and several ships nearby as the one hundred megaton nuke exploded. The blobs of plasma following the Human ships dissipated as the EMP disrupted the magnetic charge holding the plasma together. Another UNSC frigate was caught in the EMP and its entire electrical system went dead. The explosion lasted nearly thirty seconds, but when it cleared, the carrier and two destroyers that were nearby were gone. The ships were completely evaporated by the blast. The remaining ships had caught the EMP and were now floating dead in space.
The Commodore surveyed the battlefield again looking for another Covenant battle group to engage, but it looked like the Covenant were retreating. Every Covenant ship he could see was accelerating out of the system. White lights appeared off the bows of each ship as they jumped into Slipspace.
"Sir, we are receiving a priority Alpha transmission from the Cairo defense platform," Lieutenant Maria Ramirez said from the communications console.
"Put it on the main viewscreen," the Commodore stood up and walked towards the viewscreen.
The face of Fleet Admiral Sir Terrence Hood appeared on the screen. The man of sixty-five held himself with a certain dignity and pride not seen with many other UNSC personnel. From his confidence (and grey hair) one could tell this man had seen countless battles in his lifetime. Commodore Schmidt sharply saluted him.
"As you were son," despite his name, Lord Hood spoke without any accent. "Get your flotilla to rendezvous point Foxtrot, Commodore. We need to regroup the fleet. This battle isn't over yet."
"Aye aye, sir," the Schmidt replied as Admiral Hood's face disappeared. He turned to the camera linking him to his flotilla, "All ships make best speed for rendezvous point Foxtrot."
The Talon turned around and the engines rumbled as the ship accelerated toward Earth. Schmidt looked at the clock on his data pad: 1253 hours. The battle had lasted more than an entire hour and Schmidt had a feeling that they hadn't even seen the worst of it yet.