UNSC Picacho del Diablo approaching Providence
November 24, 2557
Brady studied the tactical map at the center of the bridge as his XO monitored comms within the Task Force. The Covenant had erected themselves as a fleet blockade that stretched across the equatorial section of the planet, blanketing the area and essentially making any assault an easy defeat for him, unless stealth could be used.
The civilian ships had hid in the debris, under his instructions to remain powered down to avoid Covenant notice. He knew that the feigning would only last for so long unless he directly intervened. Now, only a single ship hovered over the area, prowling over like an encircling hawk.
His plea back to FLEETCOM was met with promises, but they all were at least a day out. The UNSC Sixteenth Fleet commanded by Admiral Schlon was the closest. His fleet would take some time to arrive, but they were on high alert and ready to jump at the command's order. Brady cursed at the FLEETCOM's inability to make a decision. Human lives and a new colony were at stake, but the Navy seemed to have its priorities offset. Of course, they fought to the bitter end of their defeat at Reach because of its strategic value, but was it really worth risking two fleets for a planet of a million people? Providence was the firsts of colonies to emphasize humanity's rebuilding and one of the fastest growing colonies post-war.
Chances were, he wasn't going to get backup and if he managed to get ground forces rolling, a second front could be opened up and perhaps take down the formidable battleship.
During the admiral's childhood, his grandfather, also an admiral Brady in the UNSC had given him an antique twentieth century playset called Battleship.
Two players would sit opposite one another and place their five ships in various parts of the board. Divided into coordinates, the shots would be guesses on the grid to damage the vessels. When a ship is hit however many areas it has on the grid, it would be considered sunk. It was a game of tactics, intelligence and a dose of luck.
He remembered all the ships possible to use, Carrier, Destroyer, Submarine, Frigate and Battleship. A total of sixteen points until him or the opponent was out.
Although the game inspired Brady to join the Navy in his childhood, playing the commander of a fleet was hundreds times more complex. He even changed the game one time to shift his vessels every fifth turn to untargeted spots. Fighting the Covenant in space was like playing Battleship, except an enemy frigate had the equivalent health to a carrier and so on. They had previously had a far superior navy and even the small frigates were a threat to UNSC destroyers.
His main threat was the command vessel, a Covenant battleship named Abdicated Fortitude.
The titanic ship class was seldom seen and inferred that only a few had ever been produced. The reason was evident, it cost countless resources and her systems burned through a large amount of energy. Still, Covenant battleships could run on month long deployments without having to be replenished.
A battleship first appeared over Harvest in the very first encounter with the UNSC and soundly defeated the three vessel battlegroup sent to investigate. The late Admiral Preston Cole assembled a war party of forty UNSC warships and destroyed the battleship after a brutal fight.
Thirteen of his ships were lost and the battle had proved that a nuclear strike was completely obsolete. However, the admiral devised an all-out barrage to overload the shields and eventually destroy the ship.
Cole's fleet was massive and Brady was now facing the same class vessel with support of its own with one fifth the size.
The Covenant had placed themselves in a typical formation he had seen when the jiralhanae were the primary commanding race in the latter part of the Great War. The heavier cruisers sat in front to dish out the most damage while keeping the battleship and her complimenting carrier as support. Only six of the ships were visible. The Covenant frigates were nowhere to be seen, most likely conducting their prelude invasion.
The UNSC forces on Providence did not have much time to act. A small militia would fall quickly.
"Brady to all vessels in Battlegroup Hotel, everyone check?"
He got pings from the remainder vessels in his fleet.
"Alright. Our main objective is to target that Covenant battleship, but we're going to have to deal with its carrier and cruiser escort. Divergent and Kuching head out and initiate a first strike. If you weaken one of the cruiser's shields, then I can eliminate one of them, but we need to draw its attention. When we do, we'll launch our assault.
"Divergent moving to your requested position."
"Kuching is mobile. Awaiting orders."
Both the Divergent and Kuching were of the Strident class. The newest design that differed radically from the prior Charon, Paris, Stalwart and Guardian frames in shape and operation. They were also very fast attack vessels and buffed firepower to give even heavier Covenant warships a run for their money.
Would they stand up to the battleship?
"Both Kuching and Divergent are in your position Admiral." His ops officer noted.
"Nav, move us three-two-zero and increase engines to forty-nine."
"Aye sir."
The Diablo crested around, now slowly coming into view of the fleet and the frigate duo, parallel to one another.
"Strike now!"
"MACs firing!" The Divergent's front exploded out as the dense tungsten shell shot out at lightning speed. A split second later, its targeted cruiser's shields flickered from the shot, shattering the shell into tiny fragments.
"Firing MAC!" Kuching followed her sister ship's order, the giant slug leaving a faint white trail that disappeared quickly. Upon impact, the shields had held against the onslaught, but eventually shorted out in a flash of blue white light.
In response, the two enemy cruisers began to accelerate forward. The one with its shields dropped shifted away while the second one moved on an intercept course. Her frontal plasma turrets were capable of ripping apart UNSC titanium armor effortlessly. They glowed a vibrant red as they heated up and readied themselves to fire.
Divergent's side opened up and she let out a volley of pods in an attempt to slow the incoming ship.
"Ready Kuching?" Brady asked.
"Affirmative." The young commander replied.
Both Kuching and the Diablo's cannons opened up on the retreating cruiser. The rounds buried themselves into the thick armor of the ship, now free of shields to absorb the incoming fire.
"Arm a SPEAR cruise missile and target the damaged vessel."
"Arming sir." A few seconds later, the hatch on the dorsal side of the cruiser opened up, allowing the enormous rocket to shoot straight out. It stayed in suspense of space for a second and then ignited, burning a streaking trail towards the fleeing cruiser.
A good lesson for Covenant shipmasters was that you can't outrun a SPEAR missile. With half a tank left of fuel, the warhead impacted the ship in her center on the dorsal side. A fireball bloomed on the top, engulfing the entire plane and scorching the metal as it tore apart from the sheer explosive force.
"Incoming!" Someone on the Divergent's channel shouted.
"Alt countermeasures now! Evasive maneuvers!"
The second cruiser let out a spray of laser fire, which completely drained the shields being the near-point blank range between the two ships. The ruined barrier sparked from the overloaded generator deep within the ship's hull, struggling to regenerate.
The Covenant battleship had discharged a single plasma torpedo.
In a flash of light, the Kuching's engines flared to life and it expertly maneuvered itself straight in front of her injured sister.
"All hands brace for impact!"
The torpedo hit just abeam of the engines and one of them combusted. Plumes of fire erupted from her stern and from his view; Brady knew that the frigate had several decks breached. The torpedo had eliminated the shield and still had enough energy to do damage to armor.
"The battleship has a massive power surge." Hades informed.
"Comms, raise the Kuching! Hades, arm a Hyperion warhead and fire directly at the center of the blockade!" Brady knew that a power surge never meant anything, especially coming from a Covenant ship.
"I'm on it. Hyperion is armed and ready for launch."
"Target, Golf-Lima-Two-Romeo and adjust for enemy countermeasure factors."
"I got the Kuching sir! Situation's bad!" The comms officer reported.
The admiral was already begging to sweat, "Kuching, damage report!"
"Hyperion away."
"Bad sir! Engineers are reporting our engines are shot to hell." Kuching's commander replied. "Three decks breached and our MAC is disabled. We're sitting ducks."
"Hang in there."
"Sir! Enemy battleship is launching a second torpedo! Second fish in the water!"
"Intended target?"
"The Divergent!"
Brady moved over to the communications station. "Divergent, you've got a torpedo headed straight for you. Get the hell out of there!"
The channel remained silent.
"Hades, scan the Divergent for life signs."
He paused on his pedestal, "No life forms on the bridge. The crew's all dead."
"Son of a-"
The Divergent's starboard side exploded from the torpedo impact. Secondary explosions came afterwards as her fuel reserves ignited and she suddenly vanished in a rolling fireball that quickly broke apart, leaving nothing but blackened debris behind.
The battleship's engines puffed to life after the destruction and it radiated a pulse of blue energy that formed a protective bubble around it as well as its sisters.
"What the?" Hades cursed, "The Hyperion is offline."
Brady said something to the operations officer about conducting rescue operations and shook his head, Divergent's crew was completely lost. They saw it firsthand. Nobody could have survived that. Even Hades could tell and he hadn't even scanned the area for surviving lifeforms.
"Hades, I want you to monitor that Hyperion at all times."
"Ok. Mind if I ask why?"
"Sir?" A lieutenant interrupted. "Kuching reported the cruiser is launching signatures headed for its dorsal side." He looked up, "I think they're being boarded."
"Keep me updated on that." Brady said, keying the ship's PA systems. "Spartan Fireteam Eon to the bridge immediately."
"What would you like me to do?" The lieutenant asked.
"Get me the Kuching." At the acknowledgement, he sighed and sat down in the command seat, face in his palms. All the souls aboard the frigate were his responsibility. The operation had barely begun and he was in jeopardy of losing a quarter of his fleet already.
By now, in one of his Battleship games, it felt as if his opponent had gave him a devious smirk as he claimed the admiral's fourth ship. It would only be a matter of time before the fifth fell.
He just hoped if the Covenant had deployed ground forces, their UNSC opponents were faring batter.
Five minutes later, Eon arrived at the bridge in a jogging pace. The admiral ushered them in and leaned over the holotank at the center of the bridge. Hades gave a wave when they walked up.
"Here's the situation boys; the Kuching is currently disabled and being boarded. I don't know why, but Hades made an interesting discovery."
"37th command sent me profiles of the Council of Chieftains. They have seven key leaders, all chieftains who have made their army reminiscent of old tribal style. These guys make those brutes fought during the Battle for Earth look like kids."
"Fun," Bowman remarked, "What has interested them in the Kuching?"
"I have no idea. You'll have to ask Nadirus, also known as target Thunder. He's leading the offensive on the Kuching."
Bowman turned around, "Admiral, I'm going to need a booster frame prepped for launch. Fowler and Austal are going to jump ship. You two, help the crew and get the ship back online. Find Nadirus and terminate him. This is a big hydra we're up against."
"Yes sir." Austal turned back when he was given a dismissal. Fowler jogged up behind, a slight grin on his face.
"We got a lot of heads to decapitate huh?"
Hey guys, we're actually getting some action rolling! Sorry for not posting this for a while. It was my birthday last week, which was one epic experience. Thankfully, I don't see any new tattoos anywhere.
Thank you very much for reading and reviewing. You give my writing purpose.