First off, we're gonna deal with some complaints lodged against me or more precisely, my story.
Valerianus: Captain Ammen Dorrell reported the situation up al lthe way to turian high command at Palaven and it's quite possible the turians there have a more... liberal... interpretation of the dormant Mass Relay activation law as the activation in progress was affecting a relay in citadel space, thus they might have felt they could justify it.
Now big thanks everyone to SpartanDog1 for not actually reading the story before posting his comments! If he did read, he'd noticed every ship in question was within the proper size range, it took the combined effort of seven ships just to destroy the corvette Persistent Beat, so by no means am I down playing how strong Titanium-A should be.
Oh, also thank him for not reading my request to not put that whining, er complaining, er criticism stuff in the comments and rather PM it to me so I can discuss it.
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Again.
It was all happening again.
That was the only thought running through the mind of the commander of the UNSC Halcyon cruiser refit Mk-II, Titan of Time. Gripping the railings around the command chair hard enough he might leave marks, Rear Admiral (lower half) Richard Shearton watched the cooling fire ball that had been the Persistent Beat with an angry snarl on his face.
A man who had only just enlisted before the start of the Human-Covenant War, Richard Shearton knew how it had started, how humanity had tried to be peaceful, and how it had failed as the Covenant waged their genocidal campaign to exterminate humanity.
He had been there fighting from the first day, and now here he was, thirty-five years after the end, watching as yet another alien species decided to wage war against humanity.
Only this time they had allies.
Besides his Halcyon cruiser the Titan of Time, there were two Marathon class Cruisers present along with four Constantinople class heavy destroyers.
Sharing their space though, completing their ring above and around the construct and now the clearly enemy ships were four CCS class battle cruisers.
"Sensors, what are the enemies' movements?" Shearton ground out with all the warmness of hard vacuum.
"The six corvette analogues have formed up around the destroyer analogue and are accelerating directly at us in a loose cone formation," his sensor officer replied.
Richard nodded before speaking into the air. "Nimitz, get a line to all ships, tell them to fire at will however they are to not hit the construct. Those aliens came through it, and we need to know where they came from," he said.
"Understood, sir," a voice replied from the speakers before resolving as a man in a twentieth century naval uniform took shape in the bridge's holotank.
On the tactical display, Shearton watched as ships all about the loose ring formation suddenly fired their weapons, Sangheili vessels included.
With interest, he watched as MAC rounds and plasma torpedoes show across the intervening seventy-five thousand kilometers in a matter of moments to tear into the approaching ships.
The MAC rounds met brief resistance in the form of orange colored shields that flared into existence for instants before disappearing to simply leave the massive rounds to tear through their hulls like tissue paper.
The covenant energy weapons however, were another matter. When the first torpedo impacted, no shield flared to resist it as the torpedo melted through the hull before fire suddenly exploded through every vent and crevice of the vessel as the atmosphere inside ignited in the intense heat.
When the weapons fire had cleared, Richard Shearton was surprised to find that there was even a ship left, but yet one was left, yet horribly badly damaged as it came about and fled towards the tuning fork abject before blue energy suddenly shot it across the stars.
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"Nimitz, get me a line to HIGHCOM at Reach I have a feeling a lot of people are going to be upset to know we're at war again," Richard said tiredly as he sat in his command chair.
Already he had reports from the other ship captains coming in to him for approval before they were sent on to HIGHCOM and he knew doubtlessly that the Sangheili fleet master was reporting to his superiors at that very moment. So as calmly as he could, Richard waited till Nimitz piped up saying, "Reach HIGHCOM on the horn sir."
"Thanks Nimitz," Richard grumbled briefly before looking to the display before him as his superior appeared in holographic form.
Admiral of the Navy, Lord Knight Terrance Hood.
"Rear Admiral Shearton," Hood began, his voice calm and strong, "What's happened at the artifact that you need my attention?"
A fellow survivor of the war, and living legend almost as great as that of the Master Chief, Admiral Hood was always down to business.
"Sir," Richard began, his regret evident in his voice, "During our examination of the construct, it suddenly became active at which point seven ships arrived via FTL appearing to be 'caught' by the construct. At that point, the sensor corvette Persistent Beat attempted to hail them and they opened fire, destroying the Persistent Beat in several shots. I ordered all ships to return fire immediately, the Sangheili accompanied us in this and all but one ship was destroyed. The ship in question was heavily damaged and used the construct to perform an apparent FTL jump away from us. I've ordered all ships to constant readiness in case they return, but I believe I'll need more help here sir especially given we just had another bad first contact."
Hood was quiet for several moments as he cupped his chin with a hand before he spoke again. "Very well, we'll send everything we can to you, Richard, unfortunately that may mean you'll be usurped from command of the situation when reinforcements arrive. The good news is that from you said they have to use that construct to go FTL so that's the only way they'll enter the system unless they have something like slip space drives hidden up their sleeves which I wouldn't put past them."
"Thank you sir," Richard responded, relieved Hood was taking the situation as seriously as was required. He wasn't quite happy about having a new commanding officer in charge, but if they were sending someone over his rank, that also meant they would be sending something of at least an Infinity class if not larger as the higher up the chain you went, the more risks you were allowed to take and thus the more valuable the ship you were allowed to command as a sign of such risks and the power you were able to bring to bear on a situation.
Cautiously, Richard Shearton, looked out the front view port of the Titan of Time as if there was a ship waiting there to attack the moment he did so. As he considered the fact that things were going relatively smoothly for the moment, after the destruction of the Persistent Beat and most of the attacking aliens, Richard allowed himself a small sigh before he downed the entirety of his coffee.
This was going to be a long, long fight. He could feel it.
He could feel it just like he had at the start of the Human-Covenant War.
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Captain Ammen Dorrell thanked the spirits that his ship had managed to make it back to the Mass Relay and jump away from the fight before it had been destroyed. The Pride of the Ancestors now sat docked alongside his flotilla's tender ship undergoing emergency repairs to replace the starboard wing that had been sheared off by one of the mass driver rounds the alien ships had used and to seal the radiation breaches coming from the reactor that had nearly killed him and his entire crew.
Only prompt medical supply and treatment from the fleet tender had saved them from that fate. Worse yet, the fight had disabled his ship's long range communication systems and he couldn't yet get a message off to Palaven to tell them to send everything they possibly could as sending their fleets piecemeal through the relay was nothing less than suicide.
After hurling another series over orders over the ship board comm lines to get the communications systems restored immediately, Ammen Dorrell sat back in his command chair and downed another cup of goren.
Drinking five cups in two hours wasn't healthy for him, but neither was that fight and sitting here helpless was doing nothing for his nerves.
Still what frightened him most about the aliens was the bolts of red energy that had chased down his ships and simply passed through their kinetic barriers. They were some sort of energy weapon for sure, but their capabilities were terrifying.
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AN: So two chapters up, and over 750 views in less than six hours, I never expected this to be so popular, it actually makes me kinda giddy.
Now that I'm done being happy, about chapter length, they are getting longer, and I assure you they will only continue to do so as I get more established at writing this. The reason they were so short is I've never been the best at leaping into anything, but now that I'm here, I'll be writing nice long chapters that will hopefully keep people satisfied.
Again I extend my usual offer to all of you submit ideas to me for the story and again I'll ask that some of you few hundred readers please do review this so I know what to improve upon, submit long plaintive ones via PM so I may discuss them.