0841 HOURS, SEPTEMBER 11, 2553 (MILITARY CALENDAR)
INTERPLANETARY SPACE, EPSILON ERIDANI SYSTEM
ONBOARD UNSC HALCYON
Unlike the cramped, utilitarian bridge of the Athena, the command centre of the Halcyon was big and furiously busy. In an echo of 25th century military practice there was no chair for the captain or flag officer; both men stood at the fore end of the bridge, before the tactical screen. On it, they could clearly see the developing situation.
Far behind Halcyon, and accelerating madly in the opposite direction, was the frigate Waterloo. The ship had been assigned to gift its Slipspace core to the Athena,and otherwise avoid action. The commander of the frigate had been rigorous in her protest, but accepted the orders.
The Halcyon herself was at the core of the reduced battlegroup. Through the wide viewport ahead, the two commanding officers could see the destroyers Ghosts of Harvest and Bombay, slightly ahead of the Halcyon. All three ships were accelerating as fast as possible to meet the Athena, which had just miraculously survived the Covenant ambush at the cost of the prowler Twilight. In a minute, the four ships would cross paths, although given the extraordinary speeds they were doing, the most the crew of Halcyon would see of Athena would be a grey flash.
And then beyond all of them were the eight Covenant warships that had fallen for Hoshi Zhukov's ruse. Realising, perhaps, that they couldn't catch the Athena, the aliens were arranging themselves into a familiar battle formation; all eight ships were in a straight line across the Halcyon's course. Clearly, the Brutes commanding the starships weren't taking the humans for granted.
On the holographic pedestal next to the tactical screen, a tiny green figure popped up. 'Hannah', as she called herself, was a smart AI, and one of the more eccentric members of her kind. Her avatar was emblematic of this; Hannah had the wide, pointed ears of an old Earth fantasy novel, pink sunglasses, and a rather skimpy version of a standard UNSC Navy uniform. Her shoulder patch was somewhat telling of Hannah's preferences, and her history, as it showed an eagle holding a thunderbolt and a fistful of arrows.
"Two minutes until we enter optimal firing range," Hannah said succinctly. She had a distinctly Australian accent. "The Athena will be passing us by in thirty seconds. Ghosts of Harvest and Bombay report ready for action. All of Halcyon's systems check out as well."
Gomez glanced at the captain of the Halcyon, who acknowledged the report with only a curt nod. Shaun Holmes was a veteran, just like his ship, and looked it, with silver hair, a deep layer of stubble and some even deeper lines. If Gomez was completely honest (and he prided himself on honesty) the aged captain intimidated him slightly. Gomez had fought the Covenant, certainly, but Holmes' experience and decorations far outstripped his. There was even a rumour at HIGHCOM that the captain had gotten personal with an ex-Spartan, but nobody knew more.
On the tactical screen, the Covenant were getting closer.
Clearing his throat, Gomez began his orders. "Hannah, link to Ghosts and Bombay." She nodded, and waved for him to continue. "All ships, we are about to engage the enemy. Ghosts of Harvest, Bombay: focus primary fire on the CCS cruisers. Halcyon will focus on the destroyer and frigates. Launch all Longswords now, but have them stick close until we start shooting, then combine strike missions with point defence at your discretion." He took a deep breath, fixing his gaze directly ahead of the battlegroup where Reach lay, too far away to be seen. "On August 30th 2552, Reach fell. On September 11th, 2553...we take it back."
0842 HOURS, SEPTEMBER 11, 2553 (MILITARY CALENDAR)
INTERPLANETARY SPACE, EPSILON ERIDANI SYSTEM
ONBOARD UNSC ATHENA
Everybody onboard the Athena, even the mysterious Gamma Company, had their attention fixed on the developing battle. Despite Gomez's words, they all knew why it was being fought; to ensure that the Athena made it back to Earth. Without the sacrifice of the battlegroup, the Covenant could comfortably use their precision Slipspace jumps to leapfrog the Athena and kill them while they were still fiddling with the Slipspace drive.
This knowledge kept everybody very quiet. When the Athena and the battlegroup passed by each other, many of them stood, saluting. It felt right.
"Ma'am? There's something you...might want to see."
Hoshi didn't even look at the AI, but nodded. He waved his arm, and on the small viewport, an image resolved that immediately caught her attention and that of the entire bridge crew. It was a gun, a cannon of some sort, that superficially resembled the Gauss weapons utilised by the Marines. However, a bank of inter-connected boxes at the base of the cannon laid waste to that idea.
"What is it?"
Monty frowned, crossing his arms. "Honestly captain, I don't have a clue. When we passed the Halcyon and the others, I got a good look at their hulls. These...whatever they are, are all over those ships."
The helm officer squinted at the image. "Sort of looks like a Gauss weapon...but the scale. That thing is twenty meters long..."
Monty nodded. "That's just the destroyers. The cannons on the Halcyon are pushing fifty meters."
"Conjecture," Hoshi asked, her curiosity piqued. "Open floor, people."
For a couple of seconds, silence reigned over the bridge again. However, this time it had a completely different feel to it.
"Maybe..." the tactical lieutenant muttered. She manipulated the image with her console, turning it to the side. "This might sound crazy..."
"Story of our lives," Hoshi quipped. "Spit it out."
She glanced at the captain, stroking her chin thoughtfully. "That thing is too small to be an effective MAC weapon. And it's too big to be a point defence gun. Logically, then, it isn't either." Gazing at the image, she finished "Best guess, it's a plasma weapon."
Monty snorted in derision. "Impossible. I have full access to our ongoing research on plasma weaponry, and let me tell you, it isn't much. We still don't have a clue how to control the plasma after it's fired-"
"Your data is four years old," the tactical officer countered. "That's when we last had an update. It's possible that they captured a Covenant ship in the meantime, maybe at Earth."
Monty paused. "Point taken," he conceded. "But consider the barrel width. It's barely three centimetres in diameter. The smallest ship-going plasma weapon I've seen had an aperture of at least two meters." He stopped, raising a hand to stop the lieutenant's retort. "Well, we'll see soon enough. It's starting."
He nodded to the wide viewport. On it, eleven images resolved. The Covenant ships looked distinctly predatory, especially the massive Carrier, whereas the Halcyon and her support ships looked comparatively tiny, helpless.
Something about the admiral's confidence, his posture, finally broke through to Hoshi. When they had talked, he hadn't seemed weary, as she had seen in countless commanders before him. He'd seemed confident, sure of himself. As if he knew he was going to survive.
"Covenant ships are firing," Monty supplied. "Twenty one plasma charges, headed directly for our ships. Twelve for Halcyon, five for Ghosts, four for Bombay." The commentary was helpful, if not required. They could all see the burning blue plasma. "Our guys will begin firing MAC rounds in three...two...one..."
Right on cue, the three UNSC starships fired their counter-volley. Each destroyer fired two MAC rounds simultaneously, and a second later, the Halcyon fired too. Then she fired again.
And again.
"Monty!?"
The AI's mouth was slightly open. "Don't look at me, I didn't know." He quirked his head. "Seven MAC rounds, in total. The Halcyon fired hers at the enemy destroyer. Our destroyers are combining against one of the CCS cruisers." He paused. The MAC rounds were travelling far faster than the plasma and passed it quickly. "Impact in three...two...one..."
Onscreen, the four MAC rounds from the destroyers slammed into the nearest of the two CCS cruisers. The first three rounds smashed harmlessly into the shields, fragmenting, but they did the job; the sheer amount of kinetic energy overloaded the protective barrier. The fourth round, unimpeded by the shields, penetrated the enemy ship's armour as if it were made of paper. Half a second after entering the ship's nose it erupted out of the ship's aft engines having barely slowed down, and the cruiser began to drift, crippled.
The Halcyon's rounds hit next, with similar results. Two of the alien ships were out of the fight.
That was, however, it. The UNSC crews had only seconds to celebrate their kills before the plasma grew closer, burning as hot as a star. In one, horrible instant, it reached the battlegroup, smothering them in blue fire.
Hoshi and the others sat back in their chairs. Monty wiped the images from the screen, his eyes low. There was no point in seeing any further.
"Monty..." The captain found her voice was dry, and cleared her throat. "ETA of that Pelican?"
"It's launching now," he said quietly. "Waterloo is slotting into formation on our port quarter. We should have Slipspace capacity in half an hour, assuming we don't have any..." His eyes widened, and in an instant, the battle reappeared on the screen.
The Halcyon, Ghosts of Harvest and Bombay were still there. Golden envelopes of energy shimmered around them, and beneath, all three UNSC ships were unharmed.
"Energy shields," Hoshi breathed. "Shields..."
"Our ships are firing again," Monty said quickly, as if to make up for his previous lapse. "They're entering extreme close range with the Covenant. Enemy is undergoing rapid deceleration to engage."
On screen, the three human ships bombarded the aliens again with their MAC rounds. Another frigate and the other CCS cruiser were out of the fight before the Covenant had a chance to sneeze. In response, the Carrier and the remaining frigates regrouped, blasting away at close range with their plasma.
This time, it worked. All four of the remaining aliens focused on the Bombay. The shields, already stressed by the previous volley, completely collapsed under the barrage. The armour visibly melted against the plasma, and the ship began a slow, lazy spin, air and gasses blowing out everywhere. It, too, was out of the fight.
"It's a bloodbath," Hoshi muttered. She leaned forward, praying silently. "They must've completely drained their capacitors to fire that second volley so quickly..." She paused, frowning. The UNSC and Covenant were turning away from each other, a temporary respite. "Why haven't they fired Archer missiles?"
Monty glanced at her apologetically. "Those cannons I mentioned are placed directly over the missile tubes." As he spoke, Halcyon and Ghosts of Harvest spun themselves, presenting the sides to the Covenant. "What the-"
Singularly, simultaneously, a dozen beams of thin, bright red light burst forth from the two UNSC craft. In an instant, they crossed the small distance between the two fleets and impacted against the Covenant.
The result was spectacular. In seconds, the three alien frigates exploded, clearly not able to deal with such devastating firepower. The Carrier performed slightly better; its shields collapsed, but the ship's sheer four kilometre bulk absorbed the beams until they stopped. Hundreds of fires suddenly raged on the massive Covenant ship. A portion of the ship's beak-like nose had been simply sliced off.
"I think you lost the argument Monty," Hoshi whispered. The awesome sight before them was beyond belief, beyond sanity. Nobody else said a word.
At first it looked as if the Covenant ship was going to return fire, but Rear Admiral Gomez was clearly not in the mood. Ghosts and Halcyon turned on their axis, aiming their MAC guns directly at the center of the alien warship. Halcyon belt out three bolts of molten thunder, and seconds later, Ghosts added two of her own.
Without shields, the Carrier was totally unprotected. The MAC rounds all hit at the midpoint of the Carrier, ripping into it mercilessly and emerging from the other side. For a few seconds, nothing happened, then...
It splintered.
The impact of the five hyper-accelerated rounds was too much for it stand. The hull broke in two, visibly snapping in slow motion. It was a slow, painful death. A cloud of debris begin to grow from the point of impact as the ship slowly ripped itself to shreds. The enormous centrifugal force of the rotating hull was ripping the ship apart.
The Halcyon and Ghosts turned and gently accelerated away from the cataclysm. The Halcyon released a swarm of small shuttles and recovery craft which converged on the crippled Bombay. All around them, the remains of the once formidable Covenant fleet drifted, some of it still exploding.
Once again, silence reigned on the bridge of the Athena. Nobody said a word. Nobody could. For decades, the UNSC had been massacred at the hands of the alien aggressors; their technology had been centuries behind their enemies. Each man and woman on the starship had witnessed the Covenant slaughtering human forces again, and again, and again. Even at Sigma Octanus last year, one of the UNSC's rare victories, the Athena had been one of only nine surviving ships. Out of forty.
One thing was clear. Now, after twenty eight years of constant, brutal slaughter, after billions of deaths and losing hundreds of ships...the tide had turned.