Summary/disclaimer: Time for another chapter of Eternity of War. Enjoy the 900-word chapter. I don't own halo, Microsoft and 343 do.
Eternity finally dropped out of Slipspace. The massive supercarrier slowly drifted forward.
The vessel was escorted by 2 of its Strident-Class Heavy frigates and 6 F-41 Broadsword fighters. They were still dwarfed by the massive warship.
"What the hell is that?" Conall asked while Ryder turned to looked at his XO.
"I think we'd better ask that when we don't have a Covenant fleet ahead… I count the debris from 4 ships… looks like they've been busy." Ryder walked to the holotable which showed 8 Covenant warships.
While Eternity could engage them and possibly destroy their fleet? He didn't want to risk the massive supercarrier and its escorts.
"We could outrange those cruisers and have our fighters drop some HAVOK presents off for the sobs." Conall suggested before Ryder crossed his arms.
"And those sobs could rip through this ship with plasma beams, shear us in half and slaughter the 4000 or so people onboard this ship… quite a few of which are civilians. We don't have a chance and attacking the entire fleet head on with brute force? We might bring those cruisers down… that carrier has the tonnage to slug it out with us." Ryder turned to his helmsmen.
"Lieutenant Ethan? Bring us closer and recall the escorts. I want us also brought up to combat status…" Ryder stated before sighing and walking to his chair.
The Covenant fleet was daunting to try and deal with, he also knew the Eternity couldn't just smash through their fleet, they did have 10 frigates aboard that could help combat the fleet of cruisers blocking them from going to the massive ring.
He rubbed his chin, 4 of the Cruisers blocked his path, he turned to one of the staff.
"Deploy the frigates and start punching holes in their blockade. We're heading to the planet." Ryder ordered as Eternity slowly moved towards the massive ring.
Ryder didn't see the Autumn anywhere. The Eternity was alone in the void of space. Ryder knew the Infinity-Class Supercarrier could punch through the blockade.
But it was more curious as to where the Halcyon Class Cruiser had gone. That became the Eternity's main concern at the moment.
To Ryder? The 6 Covenant warships were flies when compared to the hulking supercarrier. They seemed to depart to the ring below.
Ryder turned to look at the rest of his command staff who were busy recalling the frigates and fighters.
Ryder could only wonder why the Covenant fleet wasn't attacking them. Perhaps the ring messed with their weapons or such?
Eternity continued to slowly drift into the atmosphere of the planet. The supercarrier resisted the gravity of the ring for a moment only to allow it to slowly pull the ship down.
Ryder watched clouds give way to rolling plains and sloping mountains that seemed to extend forever.
A beam of light lashed out at the ship and washed over the shields. They flickered, but held. Sparks danced throughout the ship.
They were thrown to the ground by the force of the descent as the massive ship righted itself. Ryder slammed to the ground and groaned at this.
Ryder could only look around at the ring around them.
"Status report?" Ryder questioned his staff and climbed to his feet.
"Some subsystems are down." One of the bridge crew stated which caused Ryder to hum. "Shields are down to 70%..." Another reported.
Ryder wondered what had happened, had something damaged the ship? Ryder cleared his throat and looked to his staff.
"Get a ground team prepared and figure out where Autumn vanished to…" Ryder ordered and then sighed. "And get the ship repaired so we can figure out our next move." Ryder put in before taking a seat next to the holotable.
Ryder sighed and started to tend to his ship to make sure everyone was ok when that was done.
(Infinity Hanger 1)
A pair of D-79-TC Pelicans were prepared aboard the hulking supercarrier. They were like bugs crawling out of a massive carcass.
Ryder watched the dropships fly from one of Eternity's many hangers. They were at best a ground presence, search and rescues, and the only eyes and ears he and Eternity had at the moment.
At worst? They were disposable fodder for the supercarrier. Ryder didn't want to throw his men under the bus. But he had to… If he didn't? They would end up being blind… And whatever had damaged the Eternity? Might not have done plenty of damage… But the massive supercarrier wasn't in a position to respond to any threats at the moment.
Ryder walked to his ready room. None of his crew dared tried to stop him. They knew he would be pondering their next move since the supercarrier needed to settle down and be repaired.
None of the crew knew about the war that would occur on the planet… Or the monsters Eternity would face.
Author Notes
Phew. Another chapter done! I want to point out that there will be fights with the Covenant fleet and Eternity will be the UNSC command center for the ring. Next chapter will be in 2-10 weeks and will show Ryder's troops finding Master Chief, their operations to rescue Marines and Ryder learning about the situation and such. Until then, Lighting Wolf out!