Chapter6

UNSC Marine 1st Company

Unknown star system, 2563, September, 19th

Onboard Forerunner vessel.

"Holy shit" muttered a marine as he slowly back up with the rest of his company "Anyone got an idea on how to get out of this"

The Sentinels moved closer, the lead was a bright golden colour in comparison to the others which were the classic grey-silver metal of Forerunner Alloys. It's three booms flare open when the Marine spoke into his com unit.

"Hold position everyone, if this is going to be a last stand we might as well take as many of these bastard with us" Ordered Lieutenant Sanders as he raised his AR into a firing position.

"Fhejelet' Pnught Juber?" filled the com channel.

"What the hell….." muttered the lieutenant as he slowly pivoted towards the gold sentinel. "Shouldn't the tin cans be blasting us already?"

Suddenly the Sentinels' boom snapped into a new configuration "Security protocol enable. Awaiting orders Reclaimers."

"Okay…. Doc? Any ideas?" muttered Sanders as he slowly ease his finger from his MA5B's trigger.

Dr Anders push passes her ODST escort and approach the sentinels. "Clarify your function." Said the doctor as she examines the sentinels from a few meters away.

"Function of unit 30-29" reply the Golden sentinel "Primary objective… Defend and protect Reclaimers until Keyship have arrived at pre-determined location. Secondary objective…Eliminate all sector of possible infection should Flood be detected."

"Status of objective?" asked Anders as she move closer.

"Primary Objective…. Pending….. Secondary objective… Pending." Replied the monotonous voice of the sentinel. It swirled around as if it was bored before refocusing on the doctor.

"Ship status?" inquire the doctor.

The Sentinel paused and was silent for 3 full minutes as it accessed the ships operational systems. "Fusion drive operating with 45% efficiency, Main engines are currently offline… Ship AI….WARNING, RAMPART AI DETECTED, SHIP LOCKDOWN REQUIRED."

Suddenly there was a warning blaring in the hanger bay, a heavy blast door slowly slid over the airlock. It closed with a 'Thunk' and a shimmering blue energy shield appeared over the blast door.

"This is not good" muttered Sanders as he tries to raise the Spirit of Fire. "Spirit of Fire this is Lieutenant Sander come in." "I repeat, Spirit of Fire this is Lieutenant Sander, come it."

"No signal sir" replied Sarah as she checked her battered Pelican.

"Well I guess everything went FUBAR….." sighed the lieutenant. "Doc, you think we can get the lockdown lifted?"

Anders was silent as she examined the Forerunner language on the sentinel. "Unit 30-29 state the requirement to lift ship lockdown"

"Complying….. requirements for lifting lockdown" reply the sentinel "Deactivation of Rampart AI require. All Corrupted Enforcers must be destroyed."

"Where the hell are they then? The sooner we can get rid of those things the faster we can recontact the Spirit."

The sentinel was silent before its middle eye blaze blue and projected a schematic of the ship. There was a while before the schematic changed and parts of the ship were highlighted in red.

"Great….. deeper inside an unknown ship…" Groan another Marine

"Captain, I'm picking up contacts approaching at FTL speeds." Said Serina as she started to display sensor data on the main view screen. "Scans show multiple of the following shape. Estimated tonnage base of these reading, each ship to be the tonnage of a corvette."

"How many are we looking at?" Ask Cutter as he examines the display. The enhance image show a narrow vessel with 2 stubby like wings.

"An Estimated 12 ships. Sir" Reply the AI. She suddenly frown " New contact detected in the middle of this fleet." The image on the viewscreen enlarged. Serina highlighted a slightly bigger bump. "Hmmm…. It appears to be a ship of similar design. However its size suggest the tonnage of a Frigate."

"ETA before their arrival?" said the captain as he tapped on his personal datapad.

"2 minutes, Shall I recall the boarding party so we can all die together?" Asked the AI sarcastically.

Frowning at the AI's sarcasm, Cutter continue to study the ships. "Spin up the MAC Serina, arm Archer missile pods A through F, something tells me they aren't coming around for some tea."

"Presenting an armed to the teeth appearance to an unknown fraction. Sure why not?" replied the AI as she worked to carry out her orders. "Should I prepare the first contact protocols?"

The captain simply replies with a nod.

Vegrull Tyzuris was pacing around the command center of his cruiser. He was trying to hide his excitement of having some action on what was supposed to be a long and boring patrol. His ships have detected a small ship appearing from what was supposed to be an inactivated primary relay, moment later the ship disappeared. He then ordered his fleet to follow the ship, hoping to gain some fame by enforcing citadel law.

"How long before we arrive at the receiving relay" Asked Vegrull Tyzuris as he stopped pacing.

"Arriving in 3, 2, 1." Reply his subordinate.

"Get me a sensor sweep of the area, we are going to find those responsible for breaking Citadel law." Ordered Vegrull Tyzuris as he glace at his ships tactical hologram display.

"Scanning….. Contact detected!" shouted a subordinate.

The tactical hologram display changes, revealing a vessel of unknown design. The vessel was bulky and the starboard side of the vessel seems to be damaed.

"One ship?" Asked Vegrukk Tyzuris as he examines the hologram.

"Sir the vessels is approximately 2.5kilometers long….." Muttered a subordinate as he recheck his sensors "Even the Asari don't have a ship that huge"

"Any zero elements detected?"

"None sir. Whatever they are using to power this monster it's not Zero."

"Bring us in, arm our mass accelerator." Ordered Vegrujj Tyzuris as he sat down in his chair. There was a stun silence before he asked "Do I need to repeat my order"

His subordinate shook his head before carrying out his commander's orders. The Turian patrol fleet turned as one and moved in close to the vessel. Their mass accelerators begin to gather energy as they charge up.

"Captain, I'm detecting magnetic fields emitted from those ships. Reading suggest a number under-powered rail guns" Said Serina as she activated her holoprojector.

"Have they sent and communication?" Asked Cutter as he frown at the ships.

"Negative, Sir" Said Serina as she frown suddenly "Picking up slipspace ruptures around the alien ships! Profiles matched Covenant vessels!"

There was an eerie silence as blue white portals open spewing out a fleet of 4 Covenant vessels including an Assault Carrier.

"Holy Shit….." muttered a crew as he stare at the Covenent vessels

"Your Destruction is the will of the Gods and we are their instruments" came a translated voice over the com channel.

"Captain the Covenant vessels are charging weapons. Estimate 15 minutes before they enter firing range." Said Serina calmly as she watch the Covalent ships moving on approach vector.

"Captain new contacts! They appeared out of nowhere!" shouted a crewmen as proximaty sensors went wild.

"An ambush?" Asked Vegrukk Tyzuris as he try to understand the situation.

"Profiles don't match the unknown ships!" reply the crewmen

Suddenly the com officer shouted" Sir receiving a communication on an open channel."

"Put it on speaker" reply Vegrukk Tyzuris as he assessed the fleet surround his own

There was a sudden burst of sound before the channel closed.

"What was that?" asked Vegrukk Tyzuris

"No idea sir but sensors are indicating the new arrivals have begin charging weapons." Reply the sensor crewmen

"Redirect weapons, We shall show those who dare to oppose Council Law. Show them the might of the Turian Hierarchy!" Shouted Vegrukk Tyzuris.

The Turian ships fired up their engines, and changed their vectors towards the Covenant ships. The frigates split into 2 wolf pack each hurtling towards a Covenant Destroyer each. Their mass accelerator firing in rapid broadsides.

The mass accelerator slugs was suddenly stopped when they impacted a large shimmering shield. Slug after slug the shield refuse to be whittled down.

"Those kinetic barriers should have gone down by now..." thought Vegrukk Tyzuris as his Cruiser joined the fray.

The Cruisers mass accelerators fired pounding the Destroyers' shield. Suddenly molts of blue light gathered at the Covenant vessels' broadsides A blue blot of Plasma lanced out and struck a Turian Frigate. The plasma bounced of the Stressed shields before it's magnetic field forced it back towards the ship. The kinetic barrier fails as heat from the plasma torpedo melted the kinetic barriers and punched through the thin amor into the atmosphere rich interior.

The frigate shudder a bit before the plasma finally reached its Zero core. The frigate detonated in a fiery fireball draining the kinetic barriers of it's nearby sister ships. Even as chaos took hold of the Turian fleet, the Covenant ships move in for the kill.

Authors note: this isnot looking good for either the Spirit of Fire or the Turians. wonder what's going to happen next =)