Sergeant Benedict Graham groaned as he groggily stood up. His entire body was aching for reasons he couldn't remember. One moment he was making a run towards the awaiting owl, and the next, well he just managed to wake up here. He also distinctively remembered that he had his armor on, but that was absent.
"You ok sarge?" he heard a voice call out.
Benedict instinctively turned around to the source of the voice, he couldn't believe his eyes.
"Nathan?" he exclaimed, not thinking that he would see the younger Corporal again. "How are you still alive? We all saw you get shot by those...things"
"Believe me Sergeant when I say I have no idea what happened myself" he said raising his hands in the 'surrender' gesture. "One moment I was out there going to initiate first contact protocols as instructed. Next I got shot, felt like I got electrocuted, and the next thing I knew I was in here" he finished motioning towards the cell that they were in.
"How long was I out for?" Benedict asked, rubbing his temple in an attempt to clear his mind.
"Don't know my self" Nathan replied. "But at least 15 minutes"
"What makes you think that?"
"Because that's when they brought you in with the rest" Nathan said, gesturing to the other "prisoners" who are still unconscious.
Benedict just nodded in acknowledgement before he took this time to study their environment. Unsurprisingly, they were in a cell of some sorts. Surprisingly, the interior looks organic in nature. Benedict doesn't know any species he has read about that utilizes such technology.
The cell "bars", for a lack of better term, is actually a webbing of some sorts. Benedict tried to push through, but the webbing didn't even budge.
So much for that idea. He thought to himself amusingly. Of course they would be too strong otherwise the stuff wont be used to keep prisoners in their cells in the first place.
"HELLOOOOOOOOOOOO?" he yelled out to the halls of the alien cell block, hoping to get the warden's attention, assuming these aliens have one in the first place. "IS ANYONE HOOOOOMMMEEEE?"
"Sarge what are you doing?" the younger Corporal piqued up.
"Trying to get an audience" Benedict replied while trying his best to angle around to see his surroundings outside of their cell better.
"Can I ask why?"
"To figure out what the fuck command got us in"
"We're in a cell Sarge" Nathan quipped, gesturing to their current situation, "I'm pretty sure that's a good sign that says we're fucked"
"Very funny Corporal" Benedict snapped before chuckling to himself. Despite their situation he was glad that the younger marine still has his humor intact. Seeing no response to his call, he promptly sat down beside his men and waited.
He didn't have to wait long. Minutes later a single alien holding what looked like a cross between a rifle and a staff walked up to the cell and just stood there. Benedict stood up and slowly made his way to the "bars".
"Hello?" he began, searching the alien's face for any facial features but the entire face is completely covered by what looked like their version of a combat helmet made from some sort of bone. How does anyone see out of that? he asked himself mentally. "I want to talk to the person in charge." he said, flapping his arms around randomly trying his best to convey his request.
The alien simply cocked its head to one side before promptly turning around and walking away, leaving a confused Benedict to contemplate their situation.
"Well that went well" Nathan commented.
"Hey! No backseat drivers" Benedict retorted
"What? Someone has to lighten up the mood here" he replied chuckling.
Before the two can continue their chat however, the alien returned, this time returning with 3 more of his buddies along with what Benedict assumed to be an officer of some kind, judging from the air of authority it had. What surprised benedict the most is that the alien officer looked very much like a human, save for the green skin and the 2 small "holes" it has on its cheeks.
The cell "bars", without warning, suddenly opened and the 5 aliens stepped inside.
"The queen wants to meet you" the officer hissed in Benedict's direction.
For once, Nathan just kept silent as Benedict looked towards him for some sign of support. All he could see was surprise and worry.
"Don't worry," Benedict said, trying to sound confident though in his mind he is down right terrified, and he doesn't know why. "I'll be back before you know it." He then turned his attention to the alien squad. "Right, let us not keep her majesty waiting then"
The officer just smirked in a devilish way before turning around and walking out of the cell. The rest of the squad then parted sideways, indicating that they want the UNSC marine to follow their commander. Benedict reluctantly followed.
A few minutes of walking down completely alien corridors, Benedict found himself to be in a large empty chamber. The entire room had almost no lighting at all, yet, he can still see very clearly. The room also gave off an erie kind of feel, making Benedict, a seasoned combat veteran way back in the covenant war, very uncomfortable and full of fear.
He didn't have to wait long for the "queen" to approach him and his guards. To his surprise, the queen has somewhat of a female human's appearance, though her skin was more greyish in color and have the 2 holes on the side of her cheeks.
"Leave us" she hissed to her men, to which they promptly obeyed and left the Sergeant to deal with the queen alone.
"You are not a lantean" she said, now turning her attention to Benedict. He was about to utter a reply but found himself unable to speak.
"Kneel!" she commanded, and to his utter shock, his body complied, without his consent.
"Your mind is weak." she continued, starting to circle around the Sergeant. "The human conscience is so..." she paused as she ran her finger up the marine's neck, sending shudders through his spine "...fragile"
"Wha...what do you want?" Benedict asked. He now found it extremely hard to do anything with his body now and it took all of his effort just to utter that simple question.
"Everything" she replied, still continuing to run her finger along the Sergeant's body. "I will get answers from you soon enough. One way or another" she cooed. "Where do you come from?"
"Earth..." was all Benedict could muster
"Hmmmm...yet you are not from Atlantis"
Atlantis? the fabled lost city? "I don't know what you're talking about"
"You lie poorly human" she said now standing straight in front of him, eyes directly staring down at him.
"Look at ME!" she commanded, to which Benedict unwilling complied and raised his head, his eyes directly staring into the alien's yellow eyes. What confidence was left in the Sergeant quickly evaporated. His mind now racing in fear trying to figure out ways to get out of this place.
"Your defiance is admirable, but I shall soon get what I seek" she said, slowly bringing her face inches away from his own "and I always get what I seek"
"You better start trying then" he replied, trying his best to sound confident.
Upon hearing that, she retreated her face from his own as if to contemplate something before continuing to speak. "It is a shame. I was planning to spare your life for my own uses. Yet, I shall grant your request nonetheless. Who are you?!"
This time, his body quaked in fear as he now realized the gravity of the situation he was in. So he did what he was trained to do "Sergeant Benedict Graham UNSC Marine 483675645-BG"
"WHERE DO YOU COME FROM?"
"Sergeant Benedict Graham UNSC Marine 483675645-BG"
"WHO DO YOU SERVE?" voice slowly rising in anger
"Sergeant Benedict Graham UNSC Marine 483675645-BG"
Suddenly, the queen screeched, sending the marine into a state of shock. The queen then grabbed him by her left hand before cocking her right hand back and jamming it into his chest. Benedict screamed in horror and agony as his life force is slowly drained from his body.
Commander Michelle Carlos watched the data stream coming across her tactical pad. "Status report on Alpha 1."
Sounds of keyboard tapping can be heard through the various consoles of the UNSC prowler Cloak and Dagger as crew members worked their consoles to operate the ship's powerful scanners.
"Ship is holding steady orbit ma'am, no sign of change"
"Uhh ma'am?" one of the deck officers called out, "Sergeant Graham's neural chip just indicated that he died ma'am"
Shit this just escalated, Michelle thought to herself. All UNSC personnel are given a neural interface chip that can transmit data about their vital signs and comes with a locator beacon in the event that the body could not be found. Having a UNSC marine die in captivity of the aliens would create diplomatic difficulties later if they ever come into negotiation rounds.
"So that leaves us with what? 4 of our guys still on board?"
"Yes ma'am" came the response. "They are all located in the same general vicinity. I presume they're in a holding cell of some kind."
"It does look like it" she replied before musing over her next move. "Send out some clarion drones to the other side of the planet. Lets get some multiple view points on the ships."
No verbal response followed but the bridge crew instantly followed through their orders.
"Clarion drones away ma'am. ETA 3 minutes"
"Thank you Lieutenant. Notify me when they get into position". Again, no verbal response but Michelle knows that her crew would follow her orders no matter what the circumstances. They've been working together for years now, and they have formed a tight bond that simple body gestures are enough to convey messages to one another.
Michelle then focused her attention to the alien fleet. The ships looked like nothing she had ever encountered. The 3 big ones in the center each measure out to 5 kilometers, just short of the UNSC Infinity, the biggest ship in the entire UNSC arsenal, at least before the expedition left the Milky Way anyways. These massive ships are designated as Alpha's 1,2 and 3 respectively. Each of the massive ships also seem to have 4-5 smaller capital ships as escorts, each ship being measured at 2500 meters long and 1500 meters wide, grossly out sizing any ship the expedition brought with them with the only exception being the Phoenix class carrier which it measured at being 3500 meters long. Michelle just hoped that the amount of fire power the UNSC has to offer is enough to keep these aliens at bay.
"Do we have those full sensor sweeps on their weapons yet?" she asked
"Negative Commander, our sensors are being partially jammed. Still trying to find a way around it ma'am."
"Acknowledged Lieutenant notify me when you have a solution." The Lieutenant simply saluted and returned to work at his station.
"Drones are in position Commander" a voice called out. "Receiving live feed now ma'am"
"Good work Lieutenant, send it to my pad"
The Lieutenant just nodded in acknowledgement before tapping away at his console. Moments later a ring tone sounded from Michelle's pad, indicating something just came up. Quickly she went over and took a look. Sure enough, it was the live feed from all 5 clarion spy drones that she had ordered sent out. She then decided to take a closer look at the ships. The bigger flagships were identical to one another. All along the flanks of each, she noticed several "holes" several meters wide. She assumed that these were either weapon ports or leading towards hanger bays. The smaller capital ships also have the same feature, albeit having much less "holes".
"Ma'am," a Lieutenant called out to her "Preliminary scan reports are in"
"Good job Lieutenant, send it to my pad. Also keep an eye out for those fighters" she said gesturing to the dozens of triangular fighter craft that the aliens have.
A few seconds later a messaged beeped on Michelle's tacpad and she instantly read over the reports. The scanners are having a hard time identifying the exact type of weaponry that the aliens employed, but Michelle had an inkling that they used some form of plasma. What really surprised her was that the hulls of each ship are constructed out of some sort of organic, self healing material. Now that is something worth looking into.
"Commander, picking up an anomaly. Looks like a slipspace rupture but not quite." shouted another Lieutenant.
"If its a slilpspace rupture then something must be coming out" she mused.
Sure enough, another fleet of the alien ships showed up, bringing up a further 3 of their flagships and 16 of their smaller escorts. In total, the aliens now have 6 of their big capital ships and 28 of their smaller ones. Something's not right she thought to herself. This is slowly looking to be a staging ground for an offensive to somewhere. The question is, who though?
"Commander!" the same Lieutenant yelled out, this time in clear alarm. "I'm detecting multiple slipspace ruptures! For real this time!"
"What?" she exclaimed. She hadn't even told the council about this new staging area, not to mention knowing that the council had authorized a first strike against these beings. A dawn of realization hit Michelle in the head Oh, shit.
As the portals formed, 14 purple bulbous ships emerged from the relativistic dimensions of slipspace. Michelle can identify each individual ship class just by looking at them, same can be said for all UNSC personnel.
"Ma'am, 1 CAS carrier, 8 CCS battle cruisers and 5 SDV corvettes" the Lieutenant read out the tactical read outs on his console.
So the snake finally revealed itself she thought to herself. The intelligence was correct; the covenant is in Pegasus, and they are extremely well equipped for war.
Seraph and Banshee space fighters immediately swarmed out of the covenant ships in the hundreds and instantly overwhelmed the alien's fighter crafts that they had previously been deployed. Their speed and maneoverbility catching the alien pilots completely off guard as their craft got turned into bright red specks in space one at a time.
However, the aliens weren't simply idling by and let their own fighters be destroyed, for they to launched their own compliment of fighters. Michelle was in for a surprise. Literally thousands upon thousands of fighter crafts streamed from the massive alien ships' hangers and mingled with their covenant counterparts. The dogfight surrounding the ships had come to a proverbial stand still; the covenant's shielding technology on their star fighters made it extremely hard for the aliens to destroy, yet the alien fighters vastly outnumber the covenant's, using their superior number to great effect with 3 or more fighters ganging up on a single covenant fighter, the latter taking several hits before succumbing to overwhelming firepower and ended up as a fireball.
Yet, the dogfight seemed to be unimportant compared to the overall fleet action. The covenant ships, as Michelle observed, orientated themselves to present the full underside of their ships and fired their energy projectors at the enemy ships, completely destroying anything in its path, leaving behind half cut alien ships in their wake. Combined fire from the 5 SDV corvettes also managed to destroy 3 more of the aliens' smaller escort capital ships. The aliens aren't completely without teeth however as focused fire from 1 untouched flagship managed to force a CCS class to fall back behind the other Covanent ships and also completely destroying 1 of the SPV corvettes.
Soon, the balance tipped into the alien's favor as one of the CCS's shields faltered from combined weapons fire from an alien carrier and 3 of its escorts, before itself being destroyed, along with 2 more corvettes while 2 more battlecruisers were forced to retreat behind friendly lines to recharge their shields.
The Covenant fleet angled their ships again and unleashed another volley of energy projectors, catching one of the alien's carriers and completely bisecting it along with several other escort ships. Yet, the aliens pushed on, undeterred from the losses, destroying another battlecruiser and what remained of the corvettes. By now, the aliens have the covenant fleet trapped between their forces and the planet's atmosphere.
4 alien escort ships broke off from the main fleet and attempted to flank around the covenant's line. The covenant's fleet commander must have seen this and diverted 2 of his remaining battlecruisers to intercept. In this, they were successful, firing their plasma torpedoes and destroying 3 of them before the other retreated under heavy fire to the protection of friendly forces. However, the covenant ships captains were over zealous in their pursuit and they managed to find themselves separated from the remaining friendly forces. All good that did though, was exposing the flanks of said battlecruisers to the full might of the alien weapons.
2 alien flagships lurched forward, overpassing their own battleline and fired all their weapons on the exposed covenant ships. Blue plasma impacted the entire length of the ships and the shields flickered once, and then died out. Not even a second later, bolts of plasma then impacted the hulls, explosions can be seen through the entire length of the ship's, before the 2 ships were engulfed in fireballs.
Michelle can only watch the battle enfold in awe at the alien's military capabilities. Here, despite being caught completely by surprise, the aliens had recovered from the initial shock and turned the tide in their favor, managing to beat back a sizable force of covenant ships that would've completely decimated any human fleet. Michelle also noted the durability of the alien ships' armor. Despite having no shielding to speak of, the armor has been able to hold up well against the Covenant weaponry. It took several plasma torpedoes and plasma cannon shots to completely destroy a single alien ship, a typical UNSC ship can only take one or two. Michelle only hoped that the ships that the expedition brought with them are sufficient enough to take them on if diplomacy fails.
As if to reinforce the Commander's observation, another covenant battlecruiser went up in flames, but not before unleashing one last torpedo salvo at the closest alien warship. Being a merely a dozen kilometers away, the escort ship never had a chance as 14 plasma torpedoes impacted the entire outer hull. The escort then continued to fire off a few more rounds before being destroyed from the torpedo impacts and engulfed in a fireball. Unfazed by the lost of the single ship, the aliens continued to pour fire upon the covenant foes, forcing them to retreat even closer to the planet.
Tasting victory, the alien forces pushed forth with all of their remaining ships. Thousands of fighters took the lead and charged straight at the Covenant ships, hoping to overwhelm the shields and leaving them open for the rest of the fleet. Yet, the aliens vastly underestimated the covanent's point defense abilities as most of them are simply erased from existence as pulse lasers lashed out from the remaining ships, as well as any remaining Covenant fighters.
The Covenant ships then angled their profiles once more and unleashed their plasma projectors. However, instead of destroying most of the alien fleet, the captains of the alien vessels soon moved out the way in time, plasma scorches being the only sign that the heavy fire only grazed their targets. In retaliation, another battlecruiser's shields flickered before dying out completely, and was completely destroyed from combined fire from an escort and one of the bigger flag ships.
The covenant commander, probably realizing that he would lose if this slugging match continued, decided to lurch his entire fleet forward, hoping to use surprise and the covenant's more numerous armaments to his advantage. The ship, even the CAS carrier, lunged forward and exchanged broadsides with the alien ships. Michelle had to admire the covenant's commander ingenuity; by mingling his ships with the enemy's, he's practically preventing the enemy from firing upon his ships, less the aliens want to risk friendly fire. The covenant ships weaved back and forth, exchanging fire from the various ships. The carrier simply waltz forward, as if it didn't give a damn about the amount of fire being poured upon it. One of the battlecruisers managed to go point blank range with one of the alien's escort ships. Bolts of plasma, plasma torpedoes and pulse lasers raced out to fill the void between the ships, while Covenant space banshees and seraph fighters raked the outer hull with precision fire and plasma bombs, obliterating the enemy ship. Another battlecruiser attempted the same tactic, but was caught in a cross fire from 2 escort ships, its shield cannot withstanding the punishment and gave way, bolts of plasma engulfed the doomed Covenant warship before exploding in a fiery inferno. Another battlecruiser had the unfortunate luck of exchanging broadsides with a flagship, its shields couldn't handle the amount of fire the enemy was producing and it quickly went up in flames. The covenant carrier, in the meantime, had maneuvered itself to a position directly above one of the alien's flag ships, its ventral energy projector, also commonly known by UNSC personnel as "glassing cannon", started glowing before unleashing a steady stream of plasma right through the enemy armor, bisecting the opposing ship, while at the same time, traded fire with one of the escort ships, the latter being destroyed through a bombardment of plasma torpedoes and bolts.
What is left of the covenant fleet had managed to pass through the entirety of the alien fleet emerging through the other side. The alien fleet then slowly turned themselves around to point their weapons at the enemy. Surprisingly, or unsurprisingly depending on how you look at it, the vovenant fleet, now only reduced to its single carrier and 2 battlecruisers, spun around and prepared to meet their enemy head on. Michelle eyes widened when she saw this, she didn't understand why the covenant forces didn't retreat into slipspace, they had managed, against all odds, to break free of their trap and now have a guaranteed chance of surviving to fight another day. True, she knows about the covenant's religious fanaticism and their lust for glory, but the covenant fleet commander has shown from time to time again a great grasp at naval warfare, surely he would know that it would be wise to retreat while he can. The Covenant only has 3 ships left, compared to the alien's a dozen or so, including 4 of their powerful flagships.Something's not right here... Michelle thought to herself as the covenant vessels rotated around and fired off their energy projectors, destroying 3 more of the alien's escort ships, before launching their plasma torpedoes as they lurched forward.
Again, the alien's armor showed it's merit, as multiple of their ships got hit by the heated plasma, yet non of them got destroyed. One of the alien escort ships showed signs of damage, slightly listing to one side and slowing down, but other than that, none of the other alien ships slowed down, and fired their own barrage of blue plasma. That's when one of the ONI prowler's sensors suddenly beeped out in protest.
"Uhh ma'am?" sounded the Lieutenant who was manning the console. "Detecting multiple slipspace portals! One of them much larger than most!"
Michelle's mind raced to find answers "Clarification?" but something at the back of her mind told herself something that made her quake in fear.
"Multiple covenant hulls ma'am!" the lieutenant shouted off in alarm "Reading 11 CCS class, 8 SPV class, 4 SDV class... " his voice trailed off as his face suddenly paled.
"What is it Lieutenant?" Michelle asked, although in her mind she already had an answer. For the first time in her entire UNSC career, she was hoping she was wrong.
"A CSO class super carrier ma'am" he finally replied.
Michelle sighed in resignation before sinking her face into her hands. What the fuck are we supposed to do against that?
"Get me a live feed from one of the drones" she ordered.
"Drones 1 and 3 are destroyed ma'am." One of the lieutenants replied "Drone 2's the only one operational"
"I'll take it" she said as the crew member tapped away before a live feed from said drone appeared on one of the view screens.
A view of one of the alien's massive flagships dominated the screen, currently firing plasma weapons very rapidly at a target not covered by the drone's cameras.
"Rotate the drone 070 by 015 degrees" Michelle ordered, to which the drone operator swiftly complied. "Oh, and back us up a little"
On the screen, the view slowly moved to follow the alien's weapon fire. It didn't take long to see what they were firing at.
If one had thought the alien's flag ships was huge, then the Covenant's CSO super carrier would be gigantic. As per her training, Michelle had committed most of the covenant ships classes to memory. Measuring at just under 29 kilometers, the giant warship completely dwarfs anything currently present in the battle space. The carrier itself can carry troops in the tens of thousands as well as hundreds of squadrons of space superiority fighters. Just remembering the CSO's capabilities is enough to make the UNSC commander's face pale.
Returning her attention to the battle that the UNSC crew members are watching, there is no doubt in anyone's mind who will emerge victorious. By appearing behind the alien's fleet, the new covenant reinforcements had completely boxed in the alien forces, they were as good as dead.
On cue, all covenant ships primed up their energy projectors and unleashed their fury. The aliens stood no chance as all remaining ships are split in half. Fresh covenant fighters soon poured out in the thousands and wiped out any remaining alien craft. Out gunned, out numbered and out teched, what remained of the alien fighter craft were picked off by the dozens. Some brave pilots attempted to ram the bigger covenant ships, but they failed miserably as they are picked clean out of the sky by the covenant's point defense system. Before long, the majority of the covenant craft returned to their hangers, having running out of targets to shoot down.
Michelle ran through the casualty list on both sides. Despite the alien's formidable combat abilities, something that didn't escaped Michelle's mind, they had managed to destroy 6 CCS class battlecruisers and 5 SDV corvettes for the lost of 6 of their powerful flagships and 28 of their weaker, but still powerful escort ships. Despite the large disparity in the casualty list, she had no illusion that had the covenant not bring in their reinforcements, they would've lost.
"Recall the drone" she said before the viewing screen switched off while she walked back to her command chair.
"Drone in the bay ma'am"
"Set course to Nova Status" she ordered. "Take us through random jumps as per the Cole Protocol"
Nods of acknowledgment followed as all of them remembered the decade old protocol put in place by Admiral Preston Cole back in the early days of the human-covenant war to safe guard humanity. One of the clauses being "when retreating from the covenant, all UNSC must make random slipspace jumps to avoid detection and tracking from covenant forces.". Many military historians agreed that the Cole Protocol is one of many reasons why humanity survived the war in the first place. Let's hope it works here Michelle thought to herself as the UNSC Cloak and Dagger opened up a slipspace portal before disappearing from real space.
Author's note: *Dodges various projectiles* OKAY OKAY I GET IT I MADE YOU GUYS IMPATIENT FOR AN UPDATE AND I'M TRUELY SORRY. There's been soo many things IRL lately that demanded my attention. I had to go to prom (don't say a word) do track practice, write up articles for my school newsletter, do schoolschool work, all that kind of stuff. Anyways, thanks for keeping up hope and keep me energy for doing this. I'm sorry that this maybe a bit short (characters spectating a space battle is not my thing) but eh, I did my best. Sorry for anyone who grew a liking to Sergeant Graham. He served his purpose.
Anyways, gotta do some stuff now, see y'all whenever my brain is up to it. See ya!