Battle: Actium

by Ian Otter

Before the Fall of Reach, the Battle of Actium was one of the bloodiest land battles of the Human-Covenant War. Experience the fighting through the eyes of those who fought, and died, in her defense. (Companion piece to my other story, Missing in Action) (Abandoned.)

8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

UNSC Kilkis (BB-123), High Orbit, Actium
May 6, 2545
0922

Spaatz

"Captain Yirenkyi! The UNSC Excalibur is under heavy fire and requesting immediate aid!"

"Helm, bring us about, all engines ahead, flank! Put us between the Excalibur and those ships! Weaps, lock onto target 9-Bravo and 5-Charlie with all batteries and fire at will! Try and force them to move! Comms, inform the Salamis of our actions and have them move in to cover the hole in the formation we're going to be leaving behind!"

"Aye sir!"

"Ops, status of the Excalibur!"

"She taking heavy fire sir! I'm reading multiple breaches across her hull and she's leaking atmosphere! Her MAC is offline and she's expended all chaff!"

"Helm, time to intercept!"

"Two minutes sir!"

"The Excalibur doesn't have two minutes! We need to go faster! Officer of the Deck, push reactors to one hundred and ten percent!"

"Reactors to one hundred and ten percent, aye sir!"

"Helm, status?"

"Time to intercept: one minute sir!"

"Sir, we - VAMPIRE VAMPIRE VAMPIRE! Sir, I'm tracking three plasma torpedoes bearing four eight seven, all headed towards the Excalibur! Time to target, thirty seconds!"

"Officer of the Deck, reactor to a hundred and fifteen percent! Weaps, launch all chaff forward of our bow and lock on to those vamps with missile pods Alpha through Echo! If those vampires don't go for those decoys, try and kill with bird!"

"Aye sir! Chaff away! Standby... sir, no joy with the decoys, attempting to kill vamps with birds! Birds away... no joy! I say again, no joy with birds!"

"Officer of the Deck, reactor to one hundred and fifty percent! All hands, BRACE FOR IMPACT PORT SIDE!"

Spaatz nervously gripped his crash restraints as the Kilkis suddenly launched forward, racing ahead to put herself between the crippled Excalibur and her tormentors. For a few moments, there was no noise but the beeping and chiming of the consoles as the entire bridge crew readied themselves. Then -

BOOMBOOM BOOMBOOM

A series of explosions echoed through the entire ship and the Kilkis violently shook as she was struck in her port side by a series of projectiles. At once a high pitch alarm began to sound.

"Ops, give me status on the Excalibur!" Yirenkyi demanded. "Did we get the vamps? Were we able to intercept all three?"

"Scanning now sir, standby! Standby... reports coming in now! Sir, according to my scans, we were able to intercept two vamps but um… shit… but one got through sir…"

"Give me a status update on the Excalibur!"

The operations officer was silent.

"God dammit Lieutenant!" Yirenkyi snapped. "What is the status of the Excalibur!?"

"...she's gone sir. I've lost her IFF tags and there's just a cloud of debris sit… sitting where she was."

From where he was stationed, Spaatz could see a range of emotions pass over Yirenkyi's face. Shock, horror, sorrow, and rage all flashed across his face in an instant before it finally settling on grief, and he lowered his head. But ever the professional, it didn't take long for Yirenkyi to bury whatever emotions he was feeling at the moment and when he raised his head back up, his mask of cold professionalism was back in place, though Spaatz could still see the sadness shining in his eyes.

"Officer of the Deck, deploy the search and rescue Pelicans," Yirenkyi ordered. "Have them… have them sweep for survivors. Let's see if anyone made it to the escape pods before the end. In the meantime, focus up ladies and gentlemen! We still have a battle to fight, and a civilian yacht to protect. Ops! Give me a sitrep!"

The operations officer shook his head. "Um, sounding and security reporting in now sir. Armor on the port side is scrapped but we're not reading any breaches in the hull. All weapons are green, however the reactor is approaching critical levels."

"Officer of the Deck, drop reactors down to eighty percent until heat levels have reached nominal levels then bring us back to full power. Helm, check ninety degrees port and get us back into this fight. Weaps, find me something to kill!"

"Aye sir! Um… sir, the Lemnos is requesting our aid with target 12-Bravo!"

"Well then, let's give it to them! Helm, check fifteen degrees starboard, all engines ahead, full! Weaps, load up a solid core shell into MAC's one and three and get me a firing solution on target 12-Bravo! Coordinate with the Lemnos' fire controller so all rounds hit simultaneously, then fire when ready!"

"Aye sir! Acquiring firing solution… target locked… rounds away sir!"

Through his tac display, Spaatz watched as two, fifteen hundred metric ton depleted uranium shells were launched from their barrels at nearly thirty-five thousand kilometers per second and quickly cross the distance to the Covenant corvette in question. At the same time, nearly two hundred Archer anti-ship missiles departed from their tubes deep within the Lemnos and sped towards the same target.

The MAC shells reached the target first, smashing into the corvette's shields with enough force to disable them outright. Her weapons and active protective systems were still operational though, and her pulse laser turrets quickly went to work, shooting down nearly three quarters of the incoming Archer missiles before they were able to hit. Fire began to blossom on the corvette's hull as the remaining missiles hit home, but undeterred, the corvette quickly returned fire, splitting her plasma fire between the Lemnos and the Kilkis.

"Weaps, load up another AP shell into gun two, lock onto target 12-Bravo's main reactor and fire when ready," Yirenkyi calmly ordered, even as the Kilkis rocked as she was hit with multiple plasma bolts.

"Aye sir!"

"Captain! Emergency message from the Salamis! Target 5-Alpha has broken through in sector three seven niner five and headed straight for the Black Stallion!"

"Dammit! Alright, Weaps, belay that order! Comms, signal the Lemnos, inform her of the situation and let her know she's on her own for now! Helm, emergency starboard thrusters, hard to port! Divert to sector three seven and move to intercept! If that civilian yacht goes down, then this entire battle was for nothing! Weaps, get a firing solution on target 5-Alpha with missile pods Item through Mike, gun two, and standby to engage! Draw that destroyer's attention onto us!"

There was a loud BANGand Spaatz once again found himself forced hard against his crash webbing as the Kilkis made an abrupt, one hundred and thirty degree turn to the left. The stars on his display became blurs before abruptly becoming whole again, and his tactical display immediately highlighted and zoomed in on a single Covenant destroyer closing in on a brightly yellow colored, dart like civilian yacht in the distance.

"All batteries, fire, FIRE!"

The Kilkis fired. A single MAC shell and nearly a hundred missiles quickly crossed the distance between the destroyer and the Kilkis, but the span was such that the destroyer was able to see the incoming rounds and begin evasive maneuvers. Pulse laser turrets opened up, shooting down missiles, while the destroyer itself quickly spun around on its longitudinal axis, presenting her narrower profile to the Kilkis and causing the MAC shell to just barely miss her. The destroyer immediately turned all her attention towards the Kilkis, and Spaatz could see a massive amount of energy building up at the destroyer's forward plasma beam emitter.

"Fire port side emergency thrusters!" Yirenkyi barked, and the Kilkis jumped to the right microseconds before a pencil-thin beam of pure energy cut through the area the Kilkis had just occupied. "Helm, check five degrees port! Weaps, lock missile pods Uniform through Zulu onto target 5-Alpha's engines then bracket that ship with MAC one and three! Fire when ready!"

The Kilkis fired again, this time far more accurately. The first MAC shell hit the edge of the destroyer's shields, causing them to light up as the projectile skimmed along the length of the ship, while the second shell hit dead on, disabling them completely and damaging some of her dorsal pulse laser turrets. The destroyer hastily fired off a number of decoys, but they alone weren't enough to disable all of the incoming missiles, of which a little more than half were able to hit home. The destroyer's main thrusters began to flicker, then their blue glow disappeared entirely.

"Weaps, load up AP in gun two, target their bridge and fire at will!"

The destroyer was still reeling from the initial attack and thus, was unable to do anything to avoid the next salvo. The heavy shell hit the ship dead on. Chunks of purple armor were thrown in all directions as the shell forced its way through the dorsal side of the ship and exited clear out through the other side. Fire and secondary explosions began erupting from the breach, but even with two massive holes in her hull, the destroyer wasn't dead yet. She quickly retaliated, launching two plasma torpedoes and opening up with her plasma cannons.

"VAMPIRE VAMPIRE VAMPIRE! Incoming plasma torpedoes bearing niner seven three!" the operations officer yelled, even as the Kilkis shook as she was raked from bow to stern with plasma cannon fire.

"Launch chaff and standby to activate starboard side emergency thrusters on my mark! MARK!"

The Kilkis leapt to the left, but even then, there were two massive explosions that caused rumblings through the entire ship.

"We're hit!"

"Damage report!"

"Captain, we have a breach in the outer hull and a fire has broken out on deck C!"

"Sound emergency evacuation alarm in that section! Give the crew thirty seconds to either get out or find some O2 masks, and then seal it off! Helm, give me a half turn rotation port side on our longitudinal axis and give me a fresh section of armor to present to the Covenant! Officer of the Deck, get damage control parties down to that breach and begin repairs, on the double! Weaps, status on the MACs?"

"Guns one and three are sixty percent charged, gun two is at thirty percent sir!"

"Not good enough. Load missile pods Alpha through Echo, lock onto the ventral breach on 5-Alpha and fire as she bears! Let's finish this!"

"Aye si - wait! Sir, I'm getting a signal... the Covenant are falling back!"

Sure enough, outside, the Covenant warships that were attacking this sector of the planet were breaking contact, including the destroyer the Kilkis was fighting against. None of them had stopped firing yet, but all fourteen of them were slowly turning around, back towards deep space.

"Captain, I'm reading slipspace ruptures just forward of their bows on all fourteen Covenant ships!"

"Including target 5-Alpha?"

"Aye sir!"

"How is that even possible?! With two massive hull breaches, the stress from the transition to and from slipstream space should rip that ship apart!"

"Under normal circumstances, yes sir, but these are Covenant ships we're dealing with, no one really knows what they're capable of!"

"Then we need to take it out before it leaves! Weaps, status?"

"MACs one and three at ninety percent sir!"

"No good! Comms, connect me to Astoria Station!"

"Connection is live sir!"

"Kilkis Actual to Astoria Station, target 5-Alpha is all yours, over!"

"Copy that Kilkis. Astoria Station firing in three, two, one, MARK!"

A massive ball of fire erupted from the muzzle of Astoria Station's Mark V "Super" Magnetic Accelerator Cannon. Firing a slug that weighed twice as much as the Kilkis was capable of, the round smashed right into the destroyer's stern and proceeded to cut diagonally through the length of the ship. The slipspace portal that had just begun to form off the destroyer's bow instantly disappeared as all power to her engines were cut. Then -

"Sir, I'm reading a massive surge of energy from within target 5-Alpha! Energy output has jumped by three hundred percent!"

"She's got a reactor breach! She's going critical! All craft, stand clear!"

The destroyer vanished in a brilliant flash of light, and a spherical shockwave could be seen erupting from somewhere near the destroyer's stern. The shockwave passed through the rest of the destroyer, ripping it to shreds. Large sections of the destroyer were hurtled in all directions, including one particularly large piece that spun in the direction of another Covenant light cruiser. The section slammed into the cruiser's shields, causing it to light up, but the cruiser was able to escape further damage when it abruptly disappeared into slipspace. She was quickly joined by the rest of her compatriots, and Spaatz let out a sigh of relief as the last of the Covenant ships vanished.

The relief didn't last long.

"Kanin, what's the butcher's bill?" Spaatz asked as he leaned back into his command chair, watching as Captain Yirenkyi and his crew began doing status checks of their own.

"From JTF Astoria, the UNSC Excalibur II was destroyed with all hands lost," Kanin somberly reported. "The UNSC Kenton was also destroyed, however CSAR was able to recovery eighty-three percent of her crew. The UNSC Aikens was damaged by six separate plasma torpedoes and has suffered from power loss as a result. The cruiser is currently being towed back to dry docks as we speak for damage assessment, however preliminary reports suggest it will take a minimum of three months before the Aikens is able to return to active duty. Air Force carrier UNSC Richard Bong was damaged by an explosion inside one of her hanger bays, the cause is currently unknown, however Colonel Chekov asserts his ship will be able to maintain their position in formation. Air Force gunship losses include PGM-19, PGM-116, PGE-121, PGE-1019, and PGE-2211."

"Casualties from TF Whiskey include the UNSC Illustrious(2), whose main battery was destroyed due to a ruptured barrel, causing twenty-eight casualties. The UNSC São Paulo(2) lost six Longswords, as well as an electronic attack Longsword. The UNSC Daedalus, Salamis, Lemnos and Kilkis(2) are all reporting non-disabling hull damage."

"And the Covenant losses?"

"Target 5-Alpha, a RPV-class destroyer, was destroyed, as was target 5-Charlie, a CRS-class light cruiser. Targets 9-Bravo, 12-Bravo, and 20-Bravo, all SDV-class corvettes, were damaged, however all were able to successfully withdraw."

Spaatz waited for Kanin to continue, but he didn't. "That's it?"

"Yes sir. Oh, the civilian yacht, Black Stallion, is thanking us for the rescue and is requesting permission to leave the system."

"Oh, now he's requesting permission to leave the system, huh? He couldn't have asked fifteen minutes ago and saved us the hassle of trying to save his ass, now could he?" Spaatz angrily snarled.

Kanin didn't respond, but Spaatz could see him nodding his head in agreement. Spaatz sighed.

"Kanin, tell that little prick he is to leave my system and never come back, otherwise, I'll shoot his ship down myself. Furthermore, when he returns to another UNSC controlled colony, have the authorities ground his ship and strip him of his captain's license; if that asshole can't be bothered to obey military orders in the middle of a Covenant attack, then he shouldn't be the captain of a spaceship at all."

"With pleasure sir."

"Admiral, sir!" Kilkis' operations officer suddenly called out. "JTF North Pole is under attack: General Ambani is requesting the assistance of TF Whiskey!"

"Sir, we're also getting reports from JTF Maleth that they too are under Covenant attack," Kilkis' communications officer reported.

"Are either of those positions coming under attack by those battlecruisers or that heavy cruiser?" Spaatz demanded to know.

"No sir."

"Do we have any idea where any of those capital ships are located?"

"Negative sir."

Spaatz grounded his teeth together. "Until the Covenant decide to commit those ships to the attack, I cannot allow the release of TF Whiskey. Admiral Steiner and General Ambani are unfortunately just going to have to hold their positions with the resources they have at hand."

Both communications officers nodded and turned away to convey Spaatz's orders, leaving Spaatz to stew about the circumstances the Covenant had forced him in.

For the last hour or so, the Covenant had been launching one attack after another on Spaatz's defensive line. The attacks were rarely conducted by more than a handful of ships, and the attacks themselves weren't that serious; the vast majority of the time, all the Covenant would do was fly in, fire a score of plasma torpedoes to cause some chaos, and then withdraw just as quickly. It wasn't hard to figure out what the Covenant were doing: they were probing Spaatz's line, searching for a weak spot, trying to lure ships away from Actium's orbital defense platforms where they could be ambushed, and most of all, wear down the UNSC's numerical advantage.

None of what the Covenant was doing was all that surprising; in fact, most of it was pretty standard tactics when attacking a planet. Because the attackers weren't tied down to a geographical location like the defenders were, the attacking force always held the initiative. The attackers could chose when and where to attack and because of that, Spaatz was forced to disperse his forces around the entire colony in order to defend all avenues of approach, least he run the risk of the Covenant discovering a hole in his lines and exploiting it at the most inopportune moment.

But that was not to say Spaatz was completely helpless. To counter the Covenant attacks, Spaatz had two advantages over them: he had numbers and he had the home field advantage. To that end, Spaatz had divided his forces into a number of joint task forces, combining Navy cruisers, frigates, and destroyers with Air Force carriers and gunships, along with Marine Corps fighters for cover, all centered around one of the nine orbital defense platforms in geosynchronous orbit around Actium. Those JTFs formed the general line of defense, and the combination of firepower from all three service branches was more than enough to counter the probing attacks the Covenant kept launching.

Eventually though, the Covenant would grow tired of those small attacks and would inevitably commit to one massive push to break through Spaatz's defenses, no doubt finally committing their three battlecruisers and one ORS-class heavy cruiser to the attack. Because that attack could take place anywhere around the world, Spaatz had formed Task Force Whiskey, combining all of his most powerful ships including all of the Navy's battleships and attack carriers assigned to the Ambracian System, and placed them under his direct command. TF Whiskey would then act as a sort of "quick reaction force," hanging back to preserve their strength all the while standing by, ready to counter any Covenant breakthrough.

At least, that had been the plan. In practice, things weren't going as smoothly as Spaatz had hoped.

The first two times the Covenant had attacked the JTFs, they had been utterly crushed, losing three destroyers, five light cruisers, and a single corvette at the cost of three UNSC's ships. After that though, instead of frittering away their strength on light probing attacks like Spaatz had hoped, the Covenant had instead turned to "sniping" his ships: with each attack, instead of attempting to cause as much damage as possible, the Covenant would instead expend all their ordnance on a single UNSC ship, inevitably destroying it, before immediately withdrawing to slipspace before the UNSC could respond in kind. If the Covenant kept that up, after a while, Spaatz's strength would get whittled away, one ship at a time. And time was on the Covenant's side: Spaatz's nearest reinforcements were still two hours away.

Conserving TF Whiskey's strength wasn't working out all that well either, mainly because of a single factor Spaatz had forgotten to account for: civilians. By now, the colonial government would have officially confirmed that Actium was under attack, and as per Spaatz's instructions, ordered all civilians to remain in place until UNSC forces could establish secure evacuation lanes. Unfortunately, there was always that one civilian who thought, just because he had an air radar and a radio scanner that was capable of decrypting low level military chatter, that he somehow knew more about the exact locations of Covenant ships than the UNSC Navy. And while he couldn't fault them for that, unfortunately some of Spaatz's ships had broken formation in order to try and rescue said civilian from his own stupidity. Naturally, they had been ambushed, forcing Spaatz to commit TF Whiskey to rescue his men, least their destruction leave a gaping hole in his defensive line.

It was all turning out to be one giant, frustrating mess.

"Admiral? I have ONI, AFIC, and INSCOM on the line for you," Kanin suddenly informed him.

Spaatz quickly sat up. He'd been expecting a call from them. "Good. Excellent. Kanin, set privacy screens to level one and feed the call directly to my tac display."

"Yes sir."

Spaatz waited until Kanin had done just that before accepting the call. The holographic images of three people appeared before him: Captain al-Cygni(3) of the Navy's Office of Naval Intelligence, Colonel Kendrick of Air Force Intelligence Command(4), and Lieutenant-Colonel Harper of the Army's Intelligence and Security Command(5). All three were the commanding officers of their respective branches' military intelligences' offices here in the Ambracian System.

"Admiral Spaatz," they greeted.

"Colonels. Captain," Spaatz said with a nod. "What do you all have for me?"

As expected, al-Cygni was the first one to speak up.

"We think we've identified the fleet that's attacking Actium sir," she began.

"Oh?" Spaatz commented, interested. "Do tell."

Al-Cygni nodded and called forth a series of images. "Based on an analysis of the type of encryption the Covenant are using, coupled with unique ship configurations and hull symbols, we believe the fleet is that of the Fleet of Furious Redemption(6). First identified during the Fall of Madrigal in 2528, the Furious Redemption has participated in a number of other battles since then, such as the Battle of Vodin in 2532, as well as the Invasion of New Harmony in 2537. Intelligence had placed the fleet as having been destroyed two years ago during Admiral Cole's Last Stand, so their appearance here is puzzling, however it's entirely possible our intelligence was simply wrong."

"Or, conversely," Kendrick suddenly interjected, "the fleet was reconstituted after the battle."

Al-Cygni inclined her head in Kendrick's direction. "The physical evidence we have at hand would suggest the latter," she agreed. "Many of the ships we're currently seeing in orbit appear to be that of older models and configurations."

"Very interesting," Spaatz commented. And he did mean it, as he always liked to know who he was fighting against, however this information was not quite what he'd been looking for. "But, and not to detract from your fine work ladies and gentlemen, that wasn't quite the intelligence I'd ask your departments to gather. If you recall, I had asked for any intelligence you could gather that would shed some light on the Covenant intentions for this world beyond the normal 'kill all humans and burn everything' sort of campaign."

"With all due respect sir, the intelligence you just heard, tells us everything we need to know about the Covenant's motivation," Kendrick interjected, picking up the thread of the conversation. "You see sir, the Fleet of Furious Redemption is not a purifying fleet, nor is it an assault fleet, or even a support fleet. It's an invasion fleet sir."

Spaatz regarded Kendrick carefully. "So Colonel, you're telling me the Covenant are intending to launch a land crusade, is that it?"

All three intelligence directors exchanged glances. "We actually think they intend to do more than that sir," Kendrick began.

"We have reason to believe the Covenant are here to conquer Actium sir," al-Cygni firmly stated.

Spaatz raised an eyebrow. "Conquer? As in, take over? The Covenant have never shown any interest in taking over any of our colonies before in the past. What makes you think Actium would be any different?"

"A number of factors sir," al-Cygni said. "For starters, the destroyer and corvette ratio of this fleet is much smaller than any other fleet we've seen in recent years, even for an invasion fleet. As you're undoubtedly aware sir, in Covenant naval doctrine, destroyers are used primarily in an anti-shipping role, analogous to the way we use our cruisers and battleships. Because of their tremendous firepower, they are also used to glass planets, which is why in fleets geared more towards assault or purification, destroyers vastly outnumber any other ship classification. On the other hand, corvettes are a bit more versatile, and can be used in a number of other roles including, troop transport."

"Furthermore sir," Kendrick continued, "my department has been analyzing the data we received from the skirmish within Tenedos' rings, and we noticed the amount of fighters the cruisers deployed prior to the destruction of JTF Omaha was far lower than what an ORS-class or CSS-class cruiser are actually capable of carrying. Now, there can be a number of alternative explains for the general lack of fighter support, however I believe the explanation is simple: the cruisers aren't carrying more fighters because they don't have any more hanger space. And the reason why they don't have any more hanger space is because those hangers are being used to haul other supplies like, say, vehicles for a ground assault. I believe this because normally Covenant capital ships form the spearhead of any Covenant assault, however I'm sure you've noticed how very conservative they've been with their most powerful ships."

"Not only that sir," al-Cygni added, "the phrase 'collateral damage' simply doesn't exist in the Covenant doctrine manual; we know because we've checked. Yet, the Covenant forces here have been unusually renitent with their shots, making sure there are no stray shots that could potential hit the planet. We can't think of another reason why they would do that unless they were concerned about damaging a prize for which they wish to capture."

"But what would they need Actium for?" Spaatz asked. "It seems to me the Covenant would be putting themselves in a rather vulnerable position, as it would give the UNSC a location we could finally strike back at."

"Sir, I'm going to show you a series of images we've capture, and perhaps the answer will be a bit more clear," al-Cygni said. "This is an image of a ship which ONI has designated as CCS-00173, though the ship's name might actually be the 'Fervent Crusader' or 'Hammer of Justice.' We're not entirely sure which one it actually is. At any case, this a picture of the ship taken during the Battle of Vodin in 2532."

An image of a standard looking CSS-class battlecruiser appeared on his screen. Nothing of the image looked out of place, and Spaatz was tempted to ask what he was looking for, when another picture appeared on his screen.

"This is an image taken during the Battle of New Harmony in 2537."

Another image of a CSS-class battlecruiser appeared on his screen. This one appeared almost identical to the first image, but after a few more seconds of study, Spaatz began to pick out some subtle differences, making him wonder if they were two different ships. Before he could say anything though, al-Cygni continued, calling forth another couple images.

"Then, what we have here is an image captured from the Battle of Psi Serpentis in 2543. And finally, one taken an hour and a half ago in orbit around Tenedos. We are ninety-nine percent certain these images are all of the same ship. Look closely at the hull sir. Notice anything?" al-Cygni asked.

Spaatz studied the images carefully, enlarging them, and spinning them around so that they were all orientated in the same direction. Finally, after he superimposed them, Spaatz quickly noticed the slight discolorations in the ship's hull that were starting to appear as time continued. It took him a few moments to realize what they meant.

"The ship has been repaired multiple times," Spaatz announced, enlarging the last image and studying it very carefully. "With what appears to be increasingly poor quality materials."

Al-Cygni nodded. "Exactly sir. Sir, since the Covenant glassed Harvest two decades ago, ONI, AFIC, and the rest of the intelligence community has been working non-stop to try and locate a Covenant controlled world so that we could finally strike back and potentially force the Covenant to scale back their assault on our worlds. We have yet to find one, or even a hint of one. There are a lot of theories as to why that is, ranging from the exotic to the absurd, however the most plausible explanation seems to be, Covenant worlds are much further away than we realized. However, if that's the case sir, then the further and further the Covenant advance into UNSC controlled space -"

"The further and further they get from their supply lines," Spaatz finished. Al-Cygni nodded and Kendrick quickly jumped in to continue the conversation.

"Precisely sir. Currently, our best hypothesis? The Covenant came to this world because they were attracted by the high concentration of iron ore just beneath the planet's crust. Iron ore, of course, being one of the base ingredients used to create the nanolaminate plating the Covenant use for their ship's hulls. The fact that we were here already was just a coincidence."

"Note sir, none of this is without precedence," al-Cygni added. "Sir, have you heard of Operation: PROMETHEUS(7)?"

Spaatz stiffened.

"I have," he cautiously admitted. "It took place sometime in 2537 near the edge of what was at the time, UNSC controlled space, I believe? Aside from that, all I know about the operation is that it is top secret, eyes only, level ten clearance, which is why I never bothered looking into it any further."

"You can relax Admiral: my job here is to gather intelligence, not keep secrets. That's Section Three's job," al-Cygni assured him. "Actually, the reason why I bring it up is because I've been cleared by Admiral Parangosky to inform you that the objective of that operation was the destruction of a Covenant shipyard. And that the operation was a success."

Spaatz was intrigued. "And ONI now believes the Covenant are attempting to establish another one here on Actium?"

"Yes sir."

Captain al-Cygni fell silent as Spaatz sat back in his chair, considering everything he'd just been told. If what his intelligence chiefs were telling him turned out to be accurate, this was something Spaatz could potentially exploit.

"If the Covenant are looking to make landfall, then they'll have to make a push soon," Spaatz began, thinking out loud. "They have to know UNSC reinforcements are coming. That's going to pressure them to make a move soon, to strike when we are weakest.

"While I hate to disagree with you Admiral, I must. At the current moment, we're not at our weakest, we're at our strongest," Kendrick said. "At the moment, we have the advantage of numbers not just in ships, but we also have the ability to make use of excellent force multipliers, such as our ODPs, as well as our numerous surface assets. The Covenant have no real reason to attack us now. And yes, while it is true that reinforcements will cause our strength to grow, we also have to realize that the Covenant too will undoubtedly be receiving reinforcements of their own. And while I don't doubt that High Command will give us any and all assets we require to defend this world, there is a limit as too how many reinforcements we are capable of receiving whereas the Covenant can continue to grow exponentially."

"And why is that Colonel?" Spaatz asked, even though he was pretty sure he knew the answer already.

"Because of the fact that we're on the defensive, not just in this battle here sir, but in the entire war, whereas the Covenant are not. We cannot afford to assemble our entire fleet in one location, least we run the risk of allowing a separate colony to fall under attack, whereas the Covenant could amass their entire navy here if they chose to," Kendrick pointed out.

Spaatz grunted. It was just as he suspected. This was part of the reason why he always hated being on the defensive: there was no way he could be proactive and try to counter the Covenant's plans before they began, he could only react. "Bottom line, ladies and gentlemen: what are you telling me?"

"All three of our departments have done a separate analysis of the Covenant's current tactics Admiral, and all three of our departments have come to the same conclusion," al-Cygni began. "If the Covenant continue to maintain their current hit and run strategy, we will last, at most, all of three standard Actium days before the entire Actium Defense Fleet is crippled enough to the point where it will not be able to interfere with any degree of significance against a Covenant landing."

"And pray tell, how did you come up to that conclusion?"

"Our current kill to death rate per hour sir. Ignoring the Covenant's initial two attacks because it's doubtful they will make that mistake again, we're losing five ships to every one of theirs. Ships that, we're not readily able to replace, even with the influx of reinforcements. And that's before the Covenant bring their capital ships into play, which would tip the ratio even further in their favor. And while we might be able to even the odds if we were to utilize our own capital ships, the simulations aren't promising, owing to the simple fact that we can't leave Actium's orbit. Not unless we want the colony to fall. Whereas, the Covenant can always withdraw, make repairs, and then start the process all over again."

Spaatz sighed. That had been the conclusion he and Kanin had come to, after running an analysis of their own. But he'd been hoping they had been wrong. "And how are you proposing we counter the Covenant's tactics?"

Al-Cygni started to look uncomfortable. "We need the Covenant to commit to a surface attack," she reluctantly told him. "If the Covenant were to make a landing right now, it would tie their forces down to a single geographic location, same as us, pushing them into a pitch battle one that, with our superior numbers, we'll have the advantage. Furthermore, with a landing, the Covenant would be required to divide their forces as they would not only need to defend their fleet against air attacks, but also to protect their landing site against our ground troops."

"And how do you propose we convince the Covenant to commit to such an attack?"

"We make a hole for them," Harper suddenly said, speaking up for the first time since the meeting began. Spaatz slowly turned to him.

"Apologies Colonel, there must have been a slight disruption in our connection," Spaatz said. "Because I could have sworn I heard you propose I open a hole in my defensive line and invite the Covenant down to the surface. But surely I couldn't have heard that correctly."

"No sir. That is, if not the exact phrasing, the essence of what I said," Harper unrepentantly replied.

Spaatz stared at him. "Are you out of your mind Colonel? That is the exact event I'm doing my best to prevent! Why in god's good name would I allow the Covenant access to this world?"

"Because it's the only wait to avert a greater disaster sir," Harper calmly informed him. "The facts cannot be denied Admiral: the Covenant are here to conquer this planet, meaning there will be an invasion. There is no question of that. What is in question is the when and the where, and the answers to that will no doubt be some variation of the phrase 'when it is most inconvenient for us,' because as my counterparts have pointed out, our strength will only wane from this point forward, while the Covenant can only grow. By allowing the Covenant to land at a spot of our choosing, we can at least eliminate the number of unknown factors."

"Make no mistake, sir," Harper continued. "I'm not proposing we simply allow the Covenant to land at any spot around the world on a whim. I'm proposing we fool the Covenant into landing at a spot most optimize for our purposes where the terrain favors the defenders, yet also minimizes the amount of damage the Covenant is capable of achieving."

"And I trust you have a spot in mind already?"

"I have several, sir. All I require is your seal of approval."

Spaatz pinched the bridge of his nose. He couldn't believe he was even considering this, but unfortunately, the facts could not be denied. "Alright Colonel, let's hear it."

"Any of the major islands would do sir. Given that roughly sixty-four percent of Actium's surface is water, the Actium Colonial Government has spent considerable time, money, and resources in the last two decades in creating a 'blue-water' Actium Navy. The vast majority of their ships are gear towards planetary defense and as such, are equipped with inter-planetary weapon systems, however they can easily be repurposed for use against other surface targets. Having the Covenant land on an island would mean we could utilize said ships, while at the same time, limit the expansion of their landing zone. An island would also allow us to consider the use of nuclear weapons."

"Actium has seven islands all over a hundred thousand square kilometers in size, Colonel," Spaatz pointed out from memory. "Which island did you have in mind in particular?"

"The island of Cyprium would be ideal. Straddling the equator in the middle of the Euxine Ocean, the center of the island is a rainforest reserve while the outer edge is mainly geared towards tourism, of which it is currently between seasons, so civilian casualties would be kept to a minimum. The island is home to a number of military unit headquarters, many of which the Covenant would be forced to capture or destroy in order to facilitate further movement across the planet. Conversely, the presence of so many military installations means the island is rather fortified, and thus would be difficult for the Covenant to capture, necessitating them to commit a far greater force than required elsewhere, tying down their fleet even further."

Spaatz nodded in understanding as he considered Harper's request. He had to admit, he didn't know much about the island of Cyprium, only that it was where General Iqbal's headquarters were located, and for that fact alone, Spaatz was tempted to give his approval. Unfortunately, military needs outweighed his petty desires.

"Unfortunately, while your reasoning is sound Colonel, there is one noticeable flaw: the Covenant aren't that stupid," Spaatz pointed out. "Despite their name, the Covenant Navy actually has very little in terms of maritime assets, and the Covenant know that. They would never commit to an island attack because they know, just as we do, they would have very little capability to continue the offensive once the island had been captured. No, if I allow this, it can't be an island, it would have to be on the mainland."

"We had considered that, and I do have a list of alternatives sir," Harper reported. "Ideal mainland location would be the Thracia Province, on the continent of Hellas."

Spaatz raised an eyebrow. "Why there?"

"Geography," was Harper's simple reply. "Thracia Province is surrounded by several natural barriers, boxing the province in, so to speak. To the east, the Euxine Ocean. To the west, roughly three hundred kilometers inland and separating the Thracia Province from the Dacia Province, there's the Haemus Mountain Range. The mountain range runs north to about the thirty-ninth parallel where it turns eastward towards the ocean, forming the northern border of Thracia. The interior of Thracia is rather hilly, with plenty of rivers and lakes that can be utilize as defensive hard points, as well as an extensive highway and railroad system in place that can facilitate the movement of reinforcements. In short sir, the terrain highly favors the defenders."

Harper fell silent, leaving Spaatz to consider his proposal. Mentally, he reviewed everything he had just been told, from the identification of the Covenant fleet attacking them now, to their possible mission objectives, to the amount of losses his fleet had taken in comparison to the Covenant Navy, and then finally to Harper's proposal.

"Colonel, answer me this: if I do allow the Covenant to gain a lodgement on the surface, what guarantees do we have that our ground forces will be able to contain, and then eliminate said lodgement?" Spaatz finally asked. "It seems to be an awfully large risk, allowing them access to the surface, as the situation could easily turn against us."

"There are absolutely no guarantees our ground forces would be able to contain the situation," Harper replied, in a surprisingly honest manner.

"Admiral, while we can't guarantee our success on the ground, we can guarantee that we will be defeated in orbit," Kendrick cut in. "At which point, the Covenant will be free to attack at any spot around the world and destroy our forces with impunity."

"With this plan sir, we'll at least be able to minimize some of the damage done to our ground troops, while allowing us the opportunity to inflict the maximum amount of casualties on the Covenant as possible," al-Cygni agreed.

Spaatz nodded, then glanced at Harper. "Colonel Harper: if this operation were to be put into effect, then the UNSC Army will be conducting the bulk of the fighting. Tell it to me straight Jack: will the Army hold?"

Harper leaned back in his chair and seemed to consider Spaatz's question. "Due to recent deployments, the Thracian garrison is admittedly depleted, however I do believe the terrain is such that whatever forces remain will be able to hold out long enough for reinforcements. So yes Admiral, I do believe the Army will hold."

Spaatz nodded. "Then I suppose all that's left to do is to figure out how to create a plausible hole," he reluctantly announced.

Before any of his intelligence chiefs could say anything, a simple text message from Kanin appeared on his screen.

JTF Cyprium under attack. No sign of any Covenant capital ships.

Cyprium.

Spaatz glanced at the assembled group. "Never mind ladies and gentlemen, I believe I have just figured out a way to create a hole. Kanin!"

Kanin instantly appeared on his screen. "Sir?"

"I presume General Iqbal is currently demanding the release of TF Whiskey?"

"Yes sir."

"Inform General Iqbal I cannot release TF Whiskey until we are able to confirm the location of those Covenant capital ships. However," Spaatz glanced at his intelligence chiefs, "I will allow him to recall his ships from JTF Byzas, who should be currently in orbit over the Thracia Province."

"Begging your pardon sir?" Kanin asked, sounding confused. "Is that wise?"

"Just do it Kanin."

"Yes sir."

Kanin's avatar disappeared, leaving Spaatz alone with his intelligence chiefs.

"Well," Kendrick began, "that's it then sir?"

"It is," Spaatz confirmed. "Colonel Kendrick? Alert your staff and have them begin preparations for the immediate evacuation of all civilians from the Thracia Province. Captain al-Cygni, inform your counterparts within the Actium Navy to start deploying ships towards Hellas. And Colonel Harper?"

Spaatz glanced at Harper, who was patiently waiting for his orders.

"Prepare your troops for a surface attack."

---

1. The UNSC Excalibur II, Kenton, and Aikens were names chosen at random.

2. The UNSC Illustrious (which is intended to be an Epoch-class heavy carrier, though it's not exactly clear in the story) was named after the HMS Illustrious, an Illustrious-class aircraft carrier that saw service during WW2 with the Royal Navy in the Mediterranean and Pacific Theaters and made famous for, among other things, being the first fleet carrier to strike against an enemy fleet.

- The UNSC São Paulo (which is also intended to be another Epoch-class heavy carrier) is named after the former Brazilian aircraft carrier the NAe São Paulo, which up until 2017, was the second of the only two aircraft carriers the Brazilian Navy ever possessed.

- UNSC Daedalus (which is intended to be Vindication-class light battleship)was named after the USS Daedalus from the Stargate Universe.

- UNSC Salamis, Lemnos and Kilkis (all are intended to be Vindication-class light battleships) are all named after three of the only four battleships the Hellenic (Greek) Navy has ever possessed (all from before WW1.) They in turn, are all named after various, victories Greek battles. (The Salamis and the fourth battleship, the Vasilefs Konstantinoswere purchased from German and French shipyards, respectively, in the early 1900's, but never completed due to the outbreak of WW1. As such, they were technically never commissioned by the Hellenic Navy)

3. al-Cygni is intended to be Jilan al-Cygni, a canon character who first appeared in the novel, Halo: Contact Harvest, where she acted as the military commanding officer of the defense of Harvest during the Covenant invasion. She is/was also Sergeant Major Avery Johnson's lover.

4. Air Force Intelligence Command (or AFIC for short) is the former name of the United States Air Force military intelligence gathering agency (USAF counterpart to the real world US Navy's ONI.) The name was used between 1991 and 1993 before it was changed. Since 2014, the agency is simply known as the "Twenty-Fifth Air Force (25 AF), but I liked the name AFIC better.

5. Intelligence and Security Command (INSCOM) is the current name for the United States Army intelligence gathering agency (again, the Army counterpart to ONI and 25 AF.)

6. This is a canon Covenant fleet. It first appeared in the graphic novel, Halo: Uprising. The fleet participated in the Invasion of the Sol System in 2552 (as depicted in Halo 2,) and most notably was responsible for the assault on Mars.

7. This is a canon operation. First appearing in the book, Halo: Ghost of Onyx, it was the operation that caused the near-complete annihilation of Alpha Company of the Spartan-III program.