A/N: This chapter picks up a day after the last chapter, as they will be working alongside the Space Marines Landed Forces, Imperial Guard Armour Columns.

By that time most of the Orbital Fleet will be spooling up their Slipspace Drives to transport some Imperial Forces to the next combat zone (Tanith First is usually in them the most, for being a smaller regiment). But other than that, not much to report. Please Read and Review of course!

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Halo (But I Wish I Did), Warhammer 40,000 and Titanicus or any reference to the popular Singer Tom Jones. Bungie/343 Industries/Microsoft Studios, Games Workshop, Dan Abnett and Tom Jones (Welsh Singer) Respectively.

Chapter 4: First Blood

Flight Lieutenant Thomas Jones Jr., Callsign: Sex Bomb, F-52 Gurkha Fighter-Bomber, UNSC Navy, 35 Miles ahead of Legio Invitca, Orestes Forge World, 10:12 hrs, 19th February, 2895/UNSC Military Calendar/Military Standard Time.

Cruising at 2,600MPH at an altitude of 87,000FT above Orestes war-torn towns and arteries. The 3 Gurkha Fighter-Bombers on Combat Air Patrol were on a lateral line ahead of Legio Invicta. Their mission was simple to understand; Provide Combat Air Patrol (CAP) ahead of Invicta's advance waiting for an opportunity to provide them with support with "painting" Enemy-Titans. Any target suspected of moving without shields up, is considered a viable target to the air group.

That was the briefing 7-hours ago. No enemy contact, not even a whisper of engagements in their CAP. Imperial Navy squadrons have been passing below them in pursuit of something on their auspex. Whilst checking his, there was nothing else up here.

"Sex Bomb. You okay there buddy?" asked his wing woman, Captain Sharon Coffee or "Starbuck" her callsign. Her aircraft was not 30 meters starboard of his wingtip.

"I'm okay, Starbuck." he responded, "I just want to get the meal on the Odyssey as I heard it was 'build-your-own pizza' night." (A/N: To certain amount!)

"Aha, that explains a lot about you now, Jonesy." chuckled Jameson, 30 meters from his Port wingtip, just like Starbuck.

About to reply to that remark, the sensor sweep pinged back to them. The ping was identified as two titans, Whilst Jameson got on the horn about the development and with Starbuck relaying the information to the Invicta's nearest titan group. Setting the sensors onboard the Gurkha to clearly Identify the inbound force. Another ping later showed the unknowns as 5 contacts. Two Warlord-Class Titans, two Warhound-Class Titans and One Reaver-Class Titan. From the looks of them they seemed to be gunning towards the region locally called 'Old Silo.' However, they seemed to be oblivious to the flight of Heavy Fighter-Bombers 87,000FT above them, and that meant the opportunity to claim a kill.

Sternguard Veteran Ly'Sudnar, Imperial Fists 1st Company, UNSC M780 SHSW/MODP Coyote, Orestes Forge World, 779.M41.

Stood in the Coyote's Command and Control centre was like nothing he seen before. Instead of hard-wired servitors and un-augmented officers, there were only un-augmented officers. Not that it slowed them down. He saw groups of officers conversing around half a dozen holomats located on to tables, the holo-display was very detailed compared to the best pict-screens he'd come across in his centuries of service to the God-Emperor.

Admiring the Command Centre for a moment longer, he turned his attention back to the UNSC Officer handling him and his Battle-Brothers. She had handed him a Data-Pad with information on where the UNSC ground forces would rendezvous with the Salamander/Imperial Fist's Strike Force. Looking over the information, he noticed they had picked well. The location was 120 miles north of the Titan Steps, yet 90 miles south-east of the Old Silo region. Force Recon had identified the terrain was a 10CM layer of soft sand with bedrock underneath that layer. It was more than capable of taking the weight of a dozen Land Raiders, Predators and other Rhino-STC based vehicles.

There was more discussion about security, however then an alert sounded from another Holotable. Its designation was Combat Air Patrol, where nearly 60 Heavy Fighter-Bombers were aloft and hunting for enemy forces. This particular alert had come from three F-52 Heavy Fighter-Bombers 40 miles west of Invicta's "Walk", aircraft that he had yet to witness, had come across a formation of Chaos Titans. An Imperial Officer dressed in the Drab Mustard of the Narmenian Armour rushed over to help, identifying what Pattern Titans they were up against.

The image formed in its amazing detail to show five Chaos Titans, 2x Warlord-Class, 2x Reaver-Class and 1x Warhound-Class Titans. A long-range strike force that had come out to meet the Imperial's advance was approaching. The 4 Salamander Marines present and the Imperial Fist pair were watching the UNSC officers on the table discussing urgently, but with a calm and reserved voice, that the other tables didn't appear to take any notice other than another data-pad being handed to them. This display of professionalism was rare within the Imperial Guard, yet here are the UNSC Command discussing a threat without a crowd listening in on the event taking place.

Obviously an attack order was transmitted to the waiting aircraft, The Narmenian present was as surprised as the Astartes themselves. Fighter-Bombers against God-Machines? That wouldn't have been considered by the Imperial Navy with it's own craft. However, it wasn't his place to advise them on how to attack titans, he was here for the ground combat ignored by the Titans of both the Mechanicus and Dark Mechanicus. Though he'd like to observe the attack taking place on the table.

Flight Lieutenant Sharon Coffee, Callsign: Starbuck, F-52 Gurkha Fighter-Bomber, UNSC Navy, 35 Miles ahead of Legio Invitca, Orestes Forge World, 10:17 hrs, 19th February, 2895/UNSC Military Calendar/Military Standard Time.

"…engagement of enemy Titans is authorised, repeat, Nuclear Engagement of enemy Titans authorised." sent a female operator.

"Fuck me." Whispered Starbuck. "Roger that Command, Nuclear Engagement Authorised. Gun Cameras online and transmitting." acknowledged Starbuck. Switching over to address her flight, she relayed the orders. Unlike some Squadrons who usually attacked after being given the green light, Starbuck tended to discuss strategies with her crews to avoid casualties and wasted ordinance fire.

"Nukes have been authorised, bloody hell. And here I was thinking we'd be using to our Plasma Spear's" said Jameson.

"Well, we don't have to use the HAVOKs first and I'm sure the Lord Governor would like a Fallout free world to rebuild." "Starbuck, could we approach from behind and off-load 10 Redapos?" stated Sex Bomb. "Leaving 5 Missiles per Titan."

"That'll work as a surprise assault but if we don't destroy them we can't follow up with that." Starbuck pointed out.

"That's when we'll fire off a HAVOK each and asses the damage from High Altitude." he replied after a second of thought. "They'd be damaged enough for a single HAVOK to overwhelm what void defences raised… Of course, that's a theory of what might happen." a slight chuckle was heard from the crews, injecting a bit of humour into a tense situation.

Relaying this plan of attack through to the Command Deck was a simple task and it was approved by those present around the table immediately. The flight of three Gurkhas broke right into a steep descent then barrel rolled. Starbuck's UNSC-Issue Flight suit was an tight armoured body glove similar to the SPARTAN version with the addition of Giraffe add-on. A Giraffe suit allows the pilot, when performing high-G manoeuvres, the lower part of the suit is to inflate and keeping the blood in their upper body and brain. Allowing manoeuvres that would make any human black-out if they were not wearing a suit like it.

Starbuck and the others pulled back on the flight sticks, the canards and the flaps were angling themselves to deflect air upwards, thus forcing the aircraft to level out at 200FT. This was high-octane stuff and the the need for radio-silence was observed incase the Titans picked it up on their manifolds. Her Radar Intercept Officer (RIO) acquired 10 passive locks on the a Warlord and Reaver Titan. Targeting the two weapon limbs, two at the knee joints and two in the on the upper rear body, relative to where the cockpit is located on the other side for both walkers. Then phase two commenced. A simultaneous launch of thirty missiles, coordinated by the RIO's of each Fighter-Bomber, made their way to their designated target. The Redapos homed in on the Titans using state-of-the-art tracking and sensor system that allow it to both pick up it's target and observe any new targets the launcher was unaware of.

The wave of Plasma Spears struck into the titans rear armour. The Fusion-Plasma Shaped Charges mounted on the missile detonated with the plasma being directed on a small area of adamantium plate. The armour held for an microsecond, before giving in to the small fusion warhead that fired plasma jet at incredible velocities. The Warhound simply has its weapons, head and knees explode in scorched and molten metal. The Reavers heavier armour protected the crew from the warhead, however their weapons overload and the knees giving way, unable to support the superstructure in it's weaken state, suffered the same fate as the smaller titan. Whilst the others were having catastrophic faliures and reactor breaches, the two much heavier Warlords, survived the initial hit and saw the three large fighters soar past them, level with the the cockpits. They were extending hard into higher altitudes, their engines giving off an light blue colour, unlike the usual flaming orange, that all the other Imperial Navy craft they'd encountered. Regardless they had been crippled and were unable to carry out the objective. Communicating with the Dark Mechanicus, they'd reported a heavy airstrike, and assessing the damage. However after they sent it, the magazines on one titan had begun to cook off, causing a chain reaction and gutting the insides of the engine. The others void generators kicked into gear, however, one of them was damaged and as it activated, it overloaded and exploded… Right next to the reactor.

Veteran-Sergeant Tarsa, Salamanders 5th Company, UNSC M780 SHSW/MODP Coyote, Orestes Forge World, 779.M41.

Tarsa was stunned by what three strike aircraft had managed to do. They had taken on a group of 5 Titans and come out on top, without having to use any nuclear weapons in the process. This courage was evident as they powered past the waining Engines, the gun camera's information along the sides started to increase as the numbers kept climbing. He looked to his fellow battle-brothers, who only nodded towards however they felt the same too. Weapon systems on a Fighter that can penetrate a Titan's adamantium plates with ease (A/N: Before you flame, they caught them with their Voids down, otherwise it would be nukes if they had them online to break the shields.) would certainly change the effectiveness of the Imperial War Machine. However, if they suddenly decided to turn against them… It wouldn't be bloodless to say the least.

From what he'd seen on the Imperial Combat Picts was the sheer professionalism that UNSC Forces had. Unlike the many Guard Regiments who had nearly been destroyed by a shoddy retreat in the face of overwhelming odds that even Space Marines would have second thoughts, the UNSC had fallen back in an orderly fashion, ambushing advance elements, constant shelling and laying traps in their wake. Something that the Guard could learn a lot from them.

Flight Lieutenant Robert Jameson, Callsign: Robbie, F-52 Gurkha Fighter-Bomber, Upper Starboard Mess Hall, UNSC Odyssey Winter-Class Super Heavy Cruiser, High Orbit of Orestes Forge World, 19:30 hrs, 19th February, 2895/UNSC Military Calendar/Military Standard Time.

The smell of authentic Italian Cuisine, common in the 20th and 21st centuries, Pizza night as the crew has come to call it, on the Odyssey was seen by the crew as one of the best meals the ship's multiple galleries could provide to the Sailors of the UNSC. The mess hall's Hole in the Wall was crammed with dozens of differently topped pizzas, some coming from Earth's own Italy, or adaptations of the originals with selections of toppings from the colonies of the UEG. The Margarita was the base product of all, then there were colony adaptions of the American (Pepperoni) with Reach substituting it with Moa. Pizza wasn't the only dish that the cooks had come up with. Spaghetti, Ravioli and shaped pasta was present on the menu. Every crew member got the chance to eat an Ancient Earth dish on nights like this. Whether or not you're an Engineer performing lengthy checks on the ship systems, or if you're a pilot who just got called into action for an emergency. If your name registered, a dish of food is set aside for later consumption. This registry also prevents crew members missing meals and with the help of the ship Smart A.I. who watches over everyone aboard the ship, you always eat… not that there is a problem with the food.

"I take it back about you, Jones." Biting into a slice of Original American, the first of his 12-inch pepperoni pizza.

"I'm gonna second to that one right there." agreed another pilot, enjoying another slice of Moa topped American.

His twelve fellow pilots of "Black Knight" squadron were sat around the table with heaps of food, an amount a squad of Hell Jumpers wouldn't recommend. They cherished the time they all were able to spend time together. Patrols, Planned Operations and Intercepts weren't kind to the squadron's health. Of the twelve that had served during the Human Covenant War and Opening Stages of the Human/Sangheili Separatists - Storm Covenant War. Only four were still serving with them.

Captain Kirsty Goodacre, UNSC Navy, UNSC Spirited Fire Scarlett-Class Heavy Frigate, 60,000FT above Orestes Forge World 22:16 hrs, February 19th, 2895/UNSC Military Calendar/Military Standard Time.

Though the thick lightning clouds blanketed Orestes, making the Imperial Navy's job much harder, the UNSC Ships had no such problem with the odd atmospherics originating from the planet. The UNSC Heavy Frigate named 'Spirited Fire' was currently providing cover to an advance party of Legio Invicta's engines, three Warhound-Class Titans were running across the ruins west of the Jeromihah Subsids. While powerful enough to eliminate Chaos Ground Columns, it'll be trouble if they engage larger or more numerous Titans. the Frigate was there to assist with Missile Barrages and Onager Rounds to collapse the void shields.

The bridge was currently quiet compared to a few hours ago. Since a 1015 hrs sighting of an advanced Titan group, Imperial High Command ordered a sweep behind Legio Invicta's advance. To avoid Chaos Forces from pressing an advantage of having Imperial reinforcements scrambling to close any gaps, the UNSC recommended a counter thrust of their own to put the opposition on the back foot. Whilst the Imperial High Command did not believe this was an adequate use of troops, Executor Crusius and Princeps Maximus Gearhart supported the thrust wholeheartedly and offered Invicta's Titans to perform it. Originally it was to be a pair of Reaver's and a Single Warlord Titan, it would weaken Invicta's own advance thus three Warhound-Classes would lead with an UNSC Scarlett-Class Heavy Frigate at 60,000FT to provide fire support if required.

"Lupus Lex, Morbius Sire and Martial Nox have reached waypoint 12 without incident, Captain." stated Emma. Hints of boredom was present in her voice.

"Thank you, Emma. Send a progress report to the Lord Governor's residence, Executor Crusius and Lord Gearhart."