1122 Hours, December 4th, 2552 (Military Calendar)/ UNSC Leviathan/ Above Reach, Epsilon Eridani System
Space has an odd silence. Something that would make much noise on our planet due to atmosphere and gravity makes absolutely no noise in space. No gust of wind to say that something is happening; no noise telling you to get out of the way. Imagine how the first humans felt when they saw the first ships of the Covenant breaking their defenses, shattering every degree of hope they had. No matter how many warships the humans sent, a single plasma torpedo would rip apart an entire multi-billion credit ship. The war had broken all perceptions of economics and had become a war of survival.
Admiral Michael Stanforth stood in the main viewing deck of his heavy cruiser. The Leviathan was built early into the war, finishing construction and being commissioned in 2532. The Leviathan had seen many battles and it showed; plasma burns had etched themselves into the armor, a permanent scar of its past. Michael watched hundreds of UNSC and Elite ships maneuver over the planet, silent guardians of a hurt world. Reach had largely recovered from the Covenant attack, but it still was tending to its wounds. Several billion died in the invasion, all of which lives that humanity wouldn't get back.
Since the catastrophic attacks on Earth, Reach had become humanities home base. While the Elites were working on decontaminating much of Earth's surface, it would still take time. The defense of Reach became humanities number one priority. More orbital guns had been deployed to the planet, bringing the total to one hundred. Massive cruisers led squadrons of several escorts around the system. A large battlegroup centered around the old dreadnought Monarch held position around Tribute, the other major colony in the system. The Fleet of Glorious Interdiction was directed by the Imperial Admiral to hold around the star system and provide a Sangheili presence in the defenses.
Michael began making his way back to the bridge as the loudspeaker said, "Admiral Stanforth, you are being requested on the bridge."
…
Aboard the Orbital Platform Vestige Station above Reach
The door hissed open to the command center of the Vestige Station, one of the orbital platforms over Reach. It was a very spacious room, with high ceilings and windows giving a great view of space. Above, a large Elite cruiser flew overhead on patrol. Two marines stood guard at the entrance to the bridge, assault rifles slung over their shoulders. They saluted the man entering, who walked up to the captain.
"You wished to see me, ma'am?" he said, saluting.
The captain turned around and returned the salute, "Lieutenant Kent, you kept me waiting." She looked at him with a stern face, expecting the truth.
Lieutenant Kent said, "My apologies, ma'am. I had received a correspondence with the wife from home." A light smile crept on his face.
Captain Anne Koel ushered for Solomon to follow him over to one of the computers. The officer at the station saw them coming and turned to the side to give them a view. "Lieutenant, ONI tells me you spent some time working on navigations, working out how the Covenant FTL systems work. Am I correct?" Koel asked.
Solomon nodded, looking at the screen. Koel looked at the other officer and said, "Tell him what you told me."
The officer cleared his throat and pointed at the screen, "About a day ago, a frigate near Teutoburg detected a large object moving through slipspace. It jumped right past Staconus and Wosporia. Two corvettes that were sent to intercept have lost contact." His finger followed a large blip passing several star systems. The two UNSC corvettes he mentioned were seen moving to inspect and suddenly disappeared.
Solomon looked down at the screen and said, "An asteroid maybe? They get caught in the wake of Slipspace jumps on occasion."
The officer shook his head and said, "I doubt it. There were no slipspace jumps in that sector from Allied ships around the time of initial discovery."
"Do we know where it is now?" Captain Koel asked.
"No, ma'am. It completely dropped off scanners," the officer said.
"What do you think, Lieutenant Kent?"
Solomon stood up straight and rubbed his chin. I have a task to do, this has to wait, whatever it is. "If it dropped off scanners that must mean it's out of slipspace. Asteroids tend to do that when this happens. If that is it, Captain, I need to get back to the Obsidian."
Captain Koel replied, "Back to it, then."
…
The ONI prowler Obsidian slipped away from the station and sped away rapidly as Lieutenant Kent went to his operations room. His assignment was to sow dissent among the Elites, and he sure as hell planned on doing that. However, it wasn't their fault Earth was destroyed. At times he thought about telling someone like Admiral Harper or Cole about Parangosky's treason, but ultimately, he always concluded it would do more harm than good.
Knowing that nearly the entire Elite leadership was on the Ark would make his job a lot easier.
…
"Gamma Station, this is Fermion RSO. Unconfirmed reports of an in-system slipspace rupture."
Silence on the other end of the channel for several seconds. Admiral Stanforth stared up at the screens above him. Fermion had forwarded data to both him and Admiral Freemont with sketchy reports involving ruptures on the edge of the system. Several ships from other systems attempting to intercept had gone missing. Michael waited for a response from Gamma Station, a large ring-shaped space station in orbit of Reach.
"Impossible. Check your source."
A single bead of sweat ran down Michael's forehead. "Send a message, fleet-wide. All ships are raised to TACCON Two. All weapons systems are to be ready in five minutes. I want fighter squadrons launched and running patrols of orbit."
"We're getting pings near Tribute's defense grid," the officer from Fermion reported.
"Sir, we've lost contact with Tribute," the communications officer reported. Michael remained silent.
"Fermion, we've lost contact with Tribute's fleet. Attempting to raise them on a second channel," came the reply from Gamma.
Michael spoke, "TAC CON One. I want a battlegroup formed around the carrier Intrepid formed and deployed to Tribute immediately." He looked out the viewport to see the orbital guns of Reach turning to face the slipspace contact. The Elite ships took holding positions throughout the human fleet, weapons charged. Fighter squadrons of Longswords and Seraphs weaved between the warships, waiting to engage.
…
"What the hell is that?" Lieutenant Kent looked at the slipspace scanners. Whatever it was, he was wrong. It was no asteroid. He sprinted towards the bridge of the Obsidian and shouted, "Get us the hell out of here! I want stealth systems activated and this ship to get out of dodge!"
"Do you want us to jump?" the helmsman asked.
Solomon waited for several seconds and shook his head. "No. Get us out of range, I want to see what this is."
…
"Gamma, whatever it is, there was just a ping by Tantalus."
"That's right on our doorstep, ladies and gentlemen. Get ready," Michael said to his silent bridge crew. A large battlegroup had been deployed to Tribute and was en route. The vast majority of ships were kept in orbit of Reach around the flagship of the system defense fleet, the Arizona, commanded by Admiral Freemont. The rest of the human ships belonged to Stanforth's Fourth Fleet.
"Fermion RSO to all UNSC naval assets, they are right on top of you!"
A massive object appeared out of slipspace directly ahead of the Allied fleet. It was a huge mushroom-shaped structure, several hundred times larger than anything humanity of the Covenant had. It looked gangrenous, infested by something.
The commander of the Fleet of Glorious Interdiction muttered, "High Charity… by the Gods… brace for impact!" Suddenly massive chunks of debris ripped through many ships in the defense fleet.
"All ships, fire at will!" Admiral Stanforth barked into the comm channel. The lights on the bridge dimmed as the MAC gun shook the Leviathan. The round disappeared into the massive ship bearing down on Reach.
"Detecting multiple pings beneath the orbital defense grid," Fermion station reported.
"This can't be happening," Gamma replied, its officer sounding much more frantic.
"Is it them?" the officer from Fermion asked.
"Negative, we have no idea what the hell it is but it's wiping us out!"
Michael watched the cruiser UNSC Ypres take multiple hits from debris as its engines died. The destroyers Whirlwind and Capable erupted into gigantic fireballs attempting to engage High Charity. There was no way this was the Covenant; the long-range scanners would have picked them up. There was no escort fleet. This had to be something else. "Order the fleet to advance. We're taking the fight right to High Charity," he commanded.
The Leviathan started forward, leading the depleted Fourth Fleet onwards. A dozen screening frigates rumbled ahead, turning to avoid the chunks of what looked like small asteroids. They fired their small MAC guns with no effect on the huge space station.
"We have emergency messages coming in from the surface, Admiral."
"WINTER CONTINGENCY has been declared, all units are mobilized and ready."
"This is Sierra-320, ready for combat insertion."
The comm links were going crazy. There were too many channels going off at one, some coming through stronger than others. Suddenly an infested Covenant cruiser jumped in beneath the orbital defense grid and crashing into a large city on Reach.
"What the hell is that?!"
Suddenly it hit Admiral Stanforth. This was what he was warned about months prior.
"We just lost our bird, we're trapped!"
The dreadnought North Dakota split in two after multiple hits, one chunk tearing into the cruiser Defender. An Elite battlecruiser exploded, taking with it several corvettes and Paris-class frigates.
This was what Cortana and the Master Chief had warned he and the Admiralty about.
"Oh my god, what the hell is happening down there?!" Gamma Station cried.
This was what Halo was for.
"We've been overrun, we'll hold this position for as long as we can!"
"The city just dropped off my map."
This was what the Forerunners were scared of.
"We need you in that fight Noble One! Noble One, come in. Noble One, can you read me?"
It was the Flood.
"This is Sierra-259. You've got Spartans on the ground sir, we're not going anywhere."
