Chapter Two: Decisions
"No plan survives contact with the enemy."
- UNSC Marine Corps Handbook (Unofficial)
SSV Kilimanjaro
Earth
With a steaming cup of coffee in one hand and his omni-tool active in the other, Admiral Steven Hackett walked easily onto the bridge. The two Alliance Marine bridge guards saluted, and Hackett nodded at them as the bridge doors slid open at his approach.
He took a quick glance around the familiar bridge of one of Humanity's most powerful and storied dreadnoughts, dimly lit by blue overhead lights and orange consoles. He nodded at his XO, Captain Jilian, and took his signature spot near the forwards observation viewport.
Hackett looked out the viewport, glancing at the blues, greens, and whites of the crest of Earth that was just barely visible to his right. He took a sip of coffee, and raised his eyebrows at the rich, warming taste. Navy coffee was good, but not this good. When Captain Jilian had said she had a can of real French Roast, she had meant it.
The Fifth Fleet had just enjoyed two weeks of shore leave, following their maintenance and refit cycle. They were in the final stages of assembling over Earth, then would travel onto Arcturus Station and relieve the Fourth Fleet.
As was his usual custom at the beginning of his shift, Hackett scrolled through the various reports and data streaming into his omni-tool from the Kilimanjaro's core systems. Nothing out of the ordinary... Drive core operating at full capacity, kinetic barriers at one hundred percent, weapons online. He checked the update to the refit and upgrade reports and nodded in approval at the yields and test results of the new Thanix cannons and Javelin torpedoes. Ever since the Alliance had gotten back the Normandy from Shepard, it had leapt at the opportunity to reverse engineer the previously closley guarded Thanix cannons.
Talking another sip of coffee, Hackett tapped into the Kilimanjaro's sensor data just to check if –
The Alliance Admiral almost choked on his coffee, coughing violently as the hot liquid nearly burned his throat. He turned back to his bridge and was met with the sort of organized chaos that could only be found on a warship as klaxons began to blare. Alliance personnel were running back and forth, tapping furiously into consoles, and shouting into omni-tool communicators, or at him specifically. The sudden cacophony of noise threatened wash over Hackett like a tidal wave.
"Admiral, two ships have appeared just under 300,000 kilometers away in grid sector Echo-271!"
"Profiles don't match any known Alliance or Council vessels!"
"Sound general
"How did they get past 1st Fleet at the Charon relay?"
"Holy hell, look at the size of those things!"
Hackett hurled his coffee into a trash disposal bin and snapped into action. Without looking he brought up the Kilamanjaro's intercomms channel on his Omni-tool, sending the transmission whistle throughought the entire ship.
"General quarters, general quarters! All hands man your battle-stations!" Hackett bellowed, and the alert klaxons added their shrill wail behind his booming words. "Up and forwards to the starboard side, and down and aft to the port side!"
He switched off the ship-wide channel, turning to his bridge's comms station. "Contact the rest of the fleet, get us between Earth and those unknowns, defensive position Alpha-One! Scramble our fighters!"
The deck shuddered under Hackett's feet as the Kilimanjaro's engines responded to his orders, and the dreadnought began to move.
Hackett strode over into the Kilimanjaro's CIC, looking for his XO.
"Jilian, I need information and I need it now. What are these ships doing? Are they moving? How did they get here?" Hackett said.
"I don't know sir, they just... appeared! And no, they're holding in position right now."
Hackett motioned to a comms officer. "Ensign, get me Admiral Lindholm at the Charon relay! And someone get a visual up on the holos!"
When the holo materialized on the main viewer, Hackett's jaw dropped.
The two ships were... massive. If the sensor readings were correct, both ships were almost five and a half kilometers, dwarfing that of the 1.3 kilometer long Kilimanjaro, one of the largest ships in the Alliance Navy. That was where their similarities ended. Even though these ships were alien to Hackett, he could clearly see that they were of two different designs. One, which had been designated Unknown One, was all clean angles, flat surfaces, and what Hackett could only assume were an untold amount of weapons protrusions. It looked like a flying brick with guns.
The other was a different story altogether. Unknown Two, had a sleeker, more graceful silhouette, with remarkable whale-like hooked bow sections. A feeling in Hackett's gut told him that both ships were immensely powerful.
But how the hell did they manage to get so big? All ships in the galaxy utilized the Mass Effect in order to move themselves in an efficient manner. The key to this process was Element Zero, which when subjugated to an electrical current releases a mass effect field that can raise or lower the mass of all objects within that field. A positive charge would increase mass, while a negative charge would decrease the mass, it was all stuff everyone learned in school.
However, the amount of Element Zero needed to invoke the Mass Effect on a ship did not increase linearly with the size of the ship, but exponentially. Since mass and volume are based on the cube of a ship's length, doubling a ship's dimensions would require eight times the Eezo. The SX3 Alliance Fighter uses 100 grams of Eezo in its core and is twenty meters in length. An Alliance frigate, two hundred meters in length, needs 100,000 grams. Now a one thousand meter dreadnought, only five times the length of a frigate, requires 12,500,000 grams of Eezo, 125 times more of the element.
Element Zero being the rare, and consequently expensive, item that it was, building ships larger than a kilometer in length was just impractical, unimaginably expensive, and could in theory result in disastrous problems regarding the size of a drive core that would be needed to power them. So for these ship to be over five kilometers long... Hackett just couldn't get his head around it.
"Admiral, are they going to attack us?" he heard a rather nervous-looking Ensign ask. Evidently she was as wary of the two ships enormity as he was.
Hackett looked closer at the holo of the two Unknowns. His seasoned mind began to notice things. First of all, there were no lights among either of the ships. No running lights, no engine lights, nothing except the reflected light from the Earth behind them playing softly on their surfaces. Second, both vessels weren't moving at all. They weren't reacting to the Alliance maneuvers, weren't bringing their bow or broadsides to bear, but stayed at a strangely tilted angle relative to the Alliance ships.
"No, I don't think so, Ensign," he responded. He gestured for Captain Jilian. "Captain, what do you notice about these two ships?"
"Other than the fact that the Alliance would bankrupt itself trying to get enough Eezo to power the drive core of ships that size?"
"Yes, but look closer. They haven't changed their orientation at all in response to our defensive maneuvers."
Jilian nodded. "Do you think they might be disabled?"
"I don't know. But I don't think we shouldn't take any hasty actions," Hackett said.
"Sir, I've got Admiral Lindholm on the quantum communicator," he heard.
"Thank you, Lieutenant," Hackett said as he made his way to the communicator. He arrived, pressed a few keys, and the near full-size figure of the First Fleet's commanding officer Admiral Ines Lindholm appeared, shimmering in static-blue.
She saluted, then said, "Admiral Hackett. I got the notice that you sent out about the two... super-dreadnoughts. Is Earth safe? What are they doing?"
"Earth is fine, although I've ordered our local military to their full readiness level. What's strange though is that the two ships, they aren't doing anything. They might be disabled."
"Disabled? Have you attempted any form of communications?" she asked.
"No, I want to wait until I've got the entire Fifth Fleet between them and Earth before trying anything. Lindholm, did any ships come through the Charon relay? Has there been any strange activity, any unusual readings?"
Lindholm shook her head. "No sir, nothing has come through for the past hour, and before that just a scheduled Turian trading convoy. All sensor readings have been normal."
Hackett scratched the stubble on his chin. "Alright. Admiral, I want you and half of your fleet at Earth ASAP. I'm not taking any chances. We'll determine the best course of action after you arrive."
"Acknowledged sir, we'll be there as fast as we can."
"See to it. Hackett out."
He strode quickly back to the bridge. "Captain, any changes?"
"No sir. We just tried hailing them on the general frequency, but no response. What's the word with Lindholm?" Jilian asked.
"Half of the First Fleet is coming to reinforce us, they'll be here shortly. In the meantime, keep trying to establish communications, cycle through all available broadcast frequencies."
Jilian nodded. "Sir, we've got fighter squadrons ready to escort boarding teams to the Unknowns."
"Negative, we're not doing anything that could be considered a hostile action, at least not at this moment," Hackett reaffirmed.
"Admiral, the Council in London is requesting an update."
Hackett frowned. He was definitely not in the mood to talk to politicians, even if they were his direct superiors. "Tell them what we already know: two unknown ships 300,000 km from Earth have appeared, but they look disabled. We have taken defensive positions, and half of the First Fleet is coming to reinforce us before we take any action."
"Sir, they're requesting a vidcom channel for your update," the comms Ensign relayed.
"Well you can tell them that I request them to forgive my inability to be reached, as I have more important matters to attend to. I will update them if the situation changes," Hackett said.
Captain Jilian tapped him on the shoulder, and Hackett turned, glad for the distraction. "What is it, Captain?'
"Sir, we're just getting our complete sensor scans back. You're going to want to see this." Jilian produced a data tablet from her uniform, then brought up a series of charts, numbers, and readings on the main holo. "Admiral, we haven't detected a single trace of Element Zero in both ships," she said quietly to him.
Hackett furrowed his brows. No Eezo? At all? On one hand, that could explain how these ships were so large, but on the other...
All space-faring vessels, no matter how large or small, used Element Zero. That was a fact, an established law. But... Hackett had read the holo, seen the vids of scientists theorizing that eezo was a unique substance to their galaxy, and not a universal occurrence throughout all of space. Those had been readily dismissed though, counted as nothing more than amusing conjecture.
Yet not a few hundred thousand kilometers in front of him were two five and a half kilometer vessels that apparently contained not a single trace of Eezo, something that should have been impossible.
"We don't know that for sure, Captain," said Hackett, "maybe we just haven't detected any Eezo because their drive cores are powered off."
"Maybe. But Admiral, what if - "
"No Captain, no 'what ifs.' We don't have any time for conjectures. Right now, we deal with what we have," ordered Hackett.
Jilian took a breath, then nodded. "Yes Admiral. So what do we do now?"
Hackett looked at the holo of the two massive vessels, still exactly where they were five minutes ago.
"As long as they continue to remain inactive, nothing until Lindholm and our reinforcements get here," he said. "For now, we play it safe."
UNSC Infinity
"Earth?!" Hernandez exclaimed in surprise. "If this is Earth, where the hell is the UNSC? Where are the ODPs? Where are the fleets?"
"Maybe there was some kind of battle, and that's where these new ships came from," reasoned Lewis, her voice tight with concern yet still professional.
Lasky swallowed, the warm copper taste of blood in his throat making him grimace. The memories of his encounter with that... ghost of the Librarian were coming back to his the front of his mind in force. "No," he said flatly.
"The Admiral's right. There are no signs of battle: no spent ordnance, no debris, no distress beacons or lifepods," confirmed Roland. What he said next startled Lasky, as he had never heard the AI be anything but sure of himseld. "Sir... I don't know what to do. This situation is outside of my established logic parameters. I'm in the process of rewriting them and I still don't have a clue what this is."
Lasky looked around the now dead-silent bridge. thirty-two pairs of eyes looked back at him. Hernandez, Lewis, Julius, they were all his crew mates, his personnel, his responsibility. They looked to him for guidance, direction, orders, something... anything. They needed him to lead them.
He started speaking with a calm yet firm voice laced with authority and confidence, and he could instantly see the effect it had on the men and women of his bridge crew. They needed him to give them focus and direction in this very new and very uncertain situation.
"Roland, what's the sitrep with our power? Reactor levels?" he asked.
"Tertiary reactor operating at maximum possible efficiency. Secondary reactor at 63 percent and rising. Primary reactors are still offline."
"Admiral! It's iffy, but I've managed to get inter-ship communications back online!"
"Excellent work Jeffreys!" Lasky exclaimed. "Find out what's going on throughout the rest of the ship. I want damage reports, casualty lists, system status confirmation, everything."
"I've already sounded general quarters to the rest of the ship Admiral," Roland informed. Lasky could pick out the distinctive sirens blaring in the background.
"Good. Turn those sirens off in here, will you? And what's the status with our shields?"
"Our shields are currently at minimal sustainable strength, they're already threatening to dissipate. If I don't get more power soon they'll collapse and we'll be vulnerable." the AI replied.
"And what about the unknown ships?" Lasky would have looked to the main holotable for visual information, but it was currently dark.
"They haven't moved Admiral, and neither have their fighters. Classic defensive half-sphere between us and the planet," relayed Lewis from her station at Sensors.
Lasky rubbed his forehead. "Hernandez, what are our offensive options?"
The weapons officer inhaled through his teeth. "Very limited sir... I've got point defense guns and some of the Onagers coming back online, and we could theoretically launch missile strikes manually, but without targeting data -" he slapped a console to his right, it was dark except for the error message flashing across its screen "- we can't do jack. MACs and Energy Projectors are out of the question, and they'll stay that way until our main reactors light up again."
"We need those main reactors back up. Roland, how long?" urgently questioned Lasky.
"We've got every available engineer and Hurogok working on that Admiral, Dr. Glassman says ten minutes, but he made very clear that was his most optimistic estimate."
"What about our fighters? Our Pelicans?" continued Lasky.
"Reports from the techs in the hangar bays say that they can have our fighter wings back up to speed and ready to launch in three minutes. No go on any Pelicans, however. Whatever happened to us messed with their internal systems too."
"Admiral, we should launch our fighters, give ourselves at least one possible weapon against these unknowns," suggested Hernandez.
Lewis looked at the weapons officer wide-eyed, then snapped her head at Lasky, nodding her head 'no' vigorously. "Sir, I don't think that such a good idea. We can't risk any action that could be considered aggressive with the Infinity in this state."
"They launched their fighters though!" argued Hernandez.
"But if we do the same, those 'unknowns' could very quickly become 'hostiles'!" Lewis retorted.
"Enough." Lasky ordered firmly, and the two immediately ceased. "Lewis is right, we can't risk being attacked right now. We're sitting ducks. We play it smart for now, and if they want to be so kind as to wait for our main systems to come back online, that's fine by me."
"They could just be waiting for reinforcements Admiral, and what if they become hostile then?"
"We don't have a choice Hernandez. Let's focus on what we can control." Lasky said. He took a deep breath to steady himself and plan his next move.
Lasky turned to Jeffreys. "Lieutenant, how are our comms? Do we have any way to communicate with them?"
Jeffrey's sighed through his mouth in frustration. "Negative sir, there's just not enough power to transmit a signal. Hell, there's no way we'd know if they were trying to contact us either."
"What about tight beaming? Or line of sight laser comms?" questioned Lasky.
"Too far away. We'd get signal degradation and lag," replied the comms officer. His head suddenly perked up a bit, filled with a new idea. "Although, the Shadow of Intent just might be within range."
"Good enough. Get me a line to the Intent ASAP, Lieutenant. The rest of you, work on getting the Infinity back on her feet."
Someone handed him an earpiece, and once he fastened it, he spoke into it. "Shipmaster Vadum'? Arbiter?"
"This is Vadum'," gruffly said the Shipmaster of the Sangheili Assault Carrier. "Admiral Lasky, we are not in the most advantageous of positions here. All of our systems except for our sensors and minor communications are currently disabled. We have Hurogok working on it, but it will be sometime before we get our engines, shields, and weapons running again."
"It's hardly any better over here," said Lasky, frowning.
"Understood. I am assuming you contacted us to discuss our plan of action concerning the large amount of warships and strike craft facing in our direction?"
"Yes. Tell me, Shipmaster, what's the last thing you remembered before we arrived... wherever we are?" Lasky asked. Earth?
"We were holding at maximum sensor range, just as you were, and were calibrating the slipspace drives for a jump when the whole ship seemed to vibrate, penetrating even all the way into the bridge. The next thing I remember, my crew and I are waking up and picking ourselves off of the floor, but the Intent was still slumbering."
Lasky frowned. "So you didn't hear or see anything unusual?"
R'tas Vadum' clicked his mandibles together. "No. Did you?"
Even though this was just an audio channel, Lasky found himself looking at the deck, his thoughts hurled back with a sort of violence, back to his encounter with that ghost-Librarian. It made him uneasy, and it was easier to lie, so he did. "No. One minute I was standing, the next I was waking up on the deck in a disabled ship. Try to get the Intent back to full operational status as soon as you can, Shipmaster, and don't make any move that could be considered aggressive or hostile. We can't risk a battle with these unknowns in our weakened state."
"Understood Admiral, Vadum' out."
The link severed, and Lasky took the comm out of his ear. He caught Lewis' gaze, her dark eyes gleaming with desperately curiosity. Could she tell that he had lied to the Sangheili? Lasky quickly gave her something to do. "Lewis, find out everything you possibly can about these unknown ships. I want profiles, classifications, priority targets, estimated capabilities, anything you can think of." She nodded emphatically and got to work.
"Admiral!" he heard, and out of the corner of his eye he saw Jeffreys waving him down. "We've finished getting reports from throughout the ship. The techs are confirming what we already know, all major systems are going through hard restarts, but the engineers at the slipspace capacitors are reporting the drives are giving off some ridiculous levels of radiation. They've sealed the compartment off, but they can't get close to attempt a restart at this time."
Lasky grimaced. Without slipspace capabilities, their strategic maneuverability had been hindered drastically. "What about casualties?"
"Two hundred, give or take a dozen. None are critical thankfully, but the doctors are saying they need power for the medical bays if they are going to have any chance of treating the injured," said Jeffreys.
"Sir, diverting power to medical facilities will reduce the rate at which the shield is recharging." informed Roland.
"What's our shield strength right now?"
"Shields have stabilized at just above minimal strength. They are slowly regenerating."
It was an easy decision. "Good enough. Get those med stations up and running."
"Admiral Lasky, you have to see this," said Lewis.
Lasky hurried over to the sensor officer's station. "What is it?"
"Sir, these unknown ships are giving off some crazy readings."
"What kind of readings? Are they maneuvering? Powering up weapons?" Lasky quickly asked, anticipating the worst.
"No no, it's just that... here, take a look." Lewis moved her head to the side so that the sensor data was more easily visible to the Admiral.
Now Lasky wasn't an expert in sensor readings, but he was experienced enough to know that something was definitely out of the ordinary.
"I've never seen these kind of gravitational readings coming from a ship before, sir," remarked Lewis. "Sure, there have always been tiny fluctuations due to the natural space-displacement of ships or artificial gravity generators, but this is something completely different. These ships seem to be surrounded by intense, rapidly oscillating gravitational fields. It's the most bizarre thing I've ever seen."
Lasky put a hand to his chin, and wondered what the implications of Lewis' discovery were. Did these unknowns use gravity as a sort of weapon? For movement? He didn't know, and he wasn't exactly keen to find out right now.
Jeffreys motioned towards Lasky, another earpiece in his hand. "Admiral, I've got Lieutenant Colonel Dare on the line."
Lasky hurriedly walked over to the comms officer and took the earpiece from his hand. He had been itching for any form of contact with the commander of the Infinity's complement of Strident-class frigates, and now he had one.
"Commander! What's the status of your frigates? Any casualties throughout your crews?" he questioned.
"Only a few minor scrapes and bruises Admiral, but they're all being attended to."
"What about your frigates?"
"Sir, by our estimates we'll be back up and ready to launch in under five minutes. From what I've been able to gather, our systems didn't take nearly the beating that the Infinity did. The hull and the shields must have protected us from whatever the hell happened."
Lasky hadn't thought about that. It was probably why the Infinity's fighters were quicker to regain operational status as well, with their smaller, less complicated internal systems. Either way he was relieved, even if it was just a slight bit. If they were to be attacked, at least he could deploy the ten Strident frigates to act as some layer of protection.
"Understood, Commander. We'll keep you posted on the situation, but be ready to deploy if the need arises. Lasky out."
"Yes Admiral, ring us if you need us."
The link was cut, and Lasky took the piece out of his ear. He saw Hernandez and Lewis looking at him with raised eyebrows.
"Our Strident Frigates should be ready to launch within a few minutes. It'll give us at least some form of protection in case worst comes to worst," Lasky relayed. "Roland, what's the word with our primary reactors?"
Just then, the emergency red lighting that the bridge had been previously bathed in was replaced by strong, bright white light. All throughout the bridge, derelict consoles came back online, floor lighting reactivated, and the main holotable flickered back to life.
In the center of the newly active holotable, Roland's World War Two avatar materialized, and he looked at Lasky with a smug smile on his face, like a kid who just figured out the answer to a complicated puzzle. "Admiral, primary reactors are back online. Running a full diagnostics now, but everything seems to be back in working order. I am rerouting and increasing power flow to all available systems."
Lasky checked his watch. By Dr. Glassman's best estimates, they were still supposed to have a ways to go before central power was restored. "How did you do it, Roland?
Roland tilted his head so that he was looking down at the 'floor' and shuffled his feet in a faux display of bashfulness. "I may have overloaded our tertiary reactors and surged the excess power into the primary reactors capacitors to jump start them. It wasn't anything dangerous, just not recommended because of, well...side effects."
Lasky looked at the AI's avatar disapprovingly. "Damage?"
"Nothing a few days of repairs and double shifts shouldn't be able to fix. Glassman's really not going to be happy with me." The AI smirked.
Lasky shook his head slightly. He questioned the AI's methods sometimes, but at least they got results. At a time like this, he wasn't about to complain. He would have to talk to Roland about his communication skills though. "The important thing is that we have main power back online, we can worry about repairs later. Roland, I want all available power going to regenerating the shields and weapons first, and then the rest to any other essential systems."
He turned to Jeffreys. "Lieutenant, do we have mainline comms back?"
"Sir! Forty new ships have just appeared eight thousand kilometers off our stern and two thousand kilometers up! Profiles and reading match with those already in planet-orbit!" Lewis yelled in interruption.
"Reinforcements." deduced Roland with a concerned frown.
Lasky's was initially startled, but not surprised. It made perfect sense for these unknowns to summon more forces to help defend their planet, maybe that's why the original unknown fleet had been holding in place for so long. But, when he saw the positioning and location of the ships, he grimaced. The new formation was effectively two thousand kilometers distant from the Shadow of Intent, very, very close quarters considering the vast scale of space. And knowing the Sangheili...
His worst fears were confirmed a moment later as the Assault Carrier started to orient itself towards the newcomers. They must have gotten their main power back too, he concluded.
"Admiral, I'm detecting a heat buildup along the port side of the Intent! They're charging a lateral plasma line!"
Lasky gripped the guard rail of the main holotable with white knuckle intensity. "Dammit! Get me a line to the Intent right now!"
"Sir, that new fleet is launching fighters and orienting themselves on the Intent."
Lasky reacted on instinct. Damn. Goddamn. This was about to turn into a shooting gallery, and he needed every advantage he could get "Roland, tell Dare she has confirmation to launch! Tell her to get her frigates in a screen around us!"
"Order away, Stridents launching. What about our fighters?" asked the AI.
"Keep them back for now, but I want all squadrons ready to blast out on my word," ordered Lasky.
Jeffreys tapped furiously away at his console, then raised his arms in the air in frustration. "Sir, they're receiving us but I'm not getting any kind of response!"
"R'tas! Thel! Shadow of Intent, power down your weapons! Do not engage, I repeat, do not engage!" Lasky exclaimed.
There were a few second of static-filled silence. "No response, sir," Jeffreys said.
Lasky needed to think fast, this could easily get very ugly very quickly. Then, the beginning of a plan started to form in his mind. It was crazy, possibly deadly, and had an unknown chance of success, but it was all he had right then. "Roland, shield strength?"
"Approaching sixty percent, sir."
"Good enough!" said Lasky. He hoped his hastily thought up gamble would pay off. "Nav, get us in between the Intent and the new fleet. Put us right in the middle of the Sangheili firing lane!"
"In between them?!" questioned Hernandez, unbelieving. "What if they shoot at us, what will we do? Our MACs are not at minimal charge!"
"They don't know that!" Lasky snapped at Hernandez. "Roland, do it now, that's an order! I'll be damned if we're going to be the cause of another First-Contact War!"
SSV Kilimanjaro
Earth
"Sir, sensors have just picked up Lindholm's force. Updating the main holo."
The holotable changed to reflect the present situation, and Hackett paled. Lindholm's forty ships had arrived only a couple thousand kilometers away from the two Unknowns. They're too close, Linholm what are you doing?! "Get me a line to Lindholm right now!"
"Sir, Unknown Two is maneuvering! Orienting itself towards Lindholm's fleet!"
So I guess they're not disabled now, Hackett thought, hoping that the situation wouldn't deteriorate.
"Admiral, we're detecting a high buildup of heat along the port side of Unknown Two!"
Hackett gulped. It was deteriorating. "Weapons systems?"
"Unknown!"
"Sir! The Second Fleet is scrambling fighters and assuming offensive positions!"
"Oh my god... the ship... Unknown One is launching cruisers!?"
"Ten cruiser-analogues are assuming defensive positions around Unknown One!"
"Unknown One is now maneuvering also – standby – what the… hell? If it continues its current vector, it will be putting itself between Unknown Two and Lindholm's fleet!
"Admiral Lindholm is requesting orders! Does she have permission to engage?"
Hackett took a deep breath, ran the options in his head, and made a decision."
"All Alliance vessels, hold your fire!"
UNSC Infinity
It was a tense few seconds on the bridge. Nobody moved, nobody talked, it was dead silent.
"Sir, I've got missile solutions on the Shadow of Intent and the new unknown fleet." Hernandez quietly said.
"Noted." Lasky responded, dearly hoping that they wouldn't be needed.
Almost everyone's eyes were glued to the main vidscreen, which showed the angrily glowing red-blue dot along the side of the Sangheili Assault Carrier that represented z Plasma Torpedoes about to fire. It had been aimed at the newly-arrived unknown fleet, but now if launched would splash right into the Infinity's starboard side.
Come on Thel, be reasonable. Lasky realized that he was holding his breath.
"Admiral, plasma lines are cooling off."
All throughout the bridge, there was a collective sigh of relief.
Realizing the shift in the situation, the new unknown fleet quickly turned away from the Intent and booked it back to the main formation holding above the planet.
Now that he was relatively sure that a battle wouldn't immediately erupt, Lasky knew that he had to take steps to ensure that it wouldn't later, and also find out just what in the living hell was going on.
"Communications suite fully restored Admiral." Roland informed.
Lasky nodded in thanks to the AI and then turned to Lieutenant Jeffreys. "Jeffreys, now that we have main comms back up, transmit a message on all available frequencies. Let's see if these unknowns want to talk."
Jeffreys held up a thumbs-up, indicating that he was transmitting.
"Hello, this is Admiral Thomas Lasky, I greet you on behalf of the United Nations Space Command..."
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