Chapter 16

UNSC 5th Fleet Flagship, Astraeus Class Battleship, Field of Hope

Sarum Star system, 2563, September, 19th

Awaiting retrieval of Forerunner Vessel.

Vice Admiral Ivan Cole stood in his ship's bridge, the eye of an increasingly frantic tornado of bridge officers that frantically worked to assess the status of the individual ships in the UNSC's fledging 5th fleet. He watch as the majestic and beautiful Forerunner Keyship approach the formation of human ships currently moving to encircle it and the Covenant Separatist fleet in a protective sphere formation.

He was snapped out of his sightseeing when the ship's AI, Tanya, directly connected into his personal com unit. "Admiral, we got a situation." Reported the AI before she started to play the conversation between the commanding officers of the Citadel fleets before continuing with the com exchange between the Asari and Shadow of intent.

Raising an eyebrow at the AI, Cole marched towards his command chair before taking a seat. Tapping his com unit, he connected to the fleetwide communication channel. "All ships, arm weapons I want Archer missiles ready for cold launch. Tanya, coordinate with the other AIs and get me firing solutions for our MAC rounds."

Tanya nodded before disappearing. One second later she reappeared on her holo pedestal. "Oh before I forget, here's the warning issued by the Salarian and Turian fleets" She added before deactivating her holo pedestal.

"The Turian Heirarch and Salarian Union lay claims to this system, all ship from other fraction must withdraw and leave behind all the artifacts in this system. Refusal to comply will result in your destruction." Came the Septimus's voice.

There was a moment of silence as the bridge crews turned and looked at each other. One of the crewman shouted "I'm pretty sure it should be the other way around dumbass" with the other crewman cheering and whistling at his joke.

"Quiet!" roared the captain of the ship even as he himself withhold a smile of his own, "I'm sorry for the unprofessional behaviour Vice admiral." Added the Captain as he turned to face Cole.

Cole gave a slight shrug before turning his attention towards the tactical table in front of his commander chair. "Begin charging our MACs." Said Cole curtly as he watch Shadow of intent discharging it's energy projector into a wolfpack of Turian's corvette sized frigates.

"Sir! FleetMaster Rtas request we provide a distraction for the Asari's escape!" reported the communication officer as he forwarded the request to the vice admiral.

"Weapons, arm Archer missile pods A through C and target this wolfpack." Said Cole as he selected a gaining group of Salarian Frigates.

"Missiles armed, Sir" reported the officer as he type in the codes to authorise the missiles launchers, a single finger hover above the enter button for the final launch sequence. Down in missile bays, Archer Mark II missiles were loaded into their pods, the efficient auto loading system pushing the missiles in before sealing it. The outer hatches of the pods opened revealing rows of armed Archer fusion missiles.

Cole waited a heartbeat before saying "Fire!" The finger tapped the enter button, sending an electronic signal to the fire control console of each of the missile pods. From the console targeting data from the bridge were inputted into the individual missiles which ignited their advanced fusion ion engines propelling the swarm of 1800 missiles towards the Salarian frigates.

"Detecting energy spike!" reported the sensor officer before the first of the missiles begin to detonate prematurely. "Energy signature suggests the laser to be near ultraviolent wavelength. Not enough to dent our shields but more than adequate to cut through our armour."

"Not fast enough" muttered Cole as the majority of Archer missiles slammed into the Salarian frigates, one thousand six hundred mini suns flared into existence.

UNSC Marathon Mark II cruiser Defiant

Sarum star system, 2563, September 19th

Currently connecting salvaged slipspace drive for testing.

Chief Engineer Daniel and his team of technicians run into the engineering bay of the Defiant where the newly acquired Covenant slipspace drive is currently being mounted on a hastily constructed frame. Power cables crisscross the floor as the hastily fabricated power cables are connected to the captured drive. "Run the simulations! We donn't need a ruptured drive!" Yelled Daniel as he quickly sat down at his console, and begin running the hundreds of simulations on the captured drive.

Technicians with even the slightest slipspace expertise were pulled from all over the ship to supplement the already tired Engineer crews. "Chief, the stress simulations for the mount looks good. And the Electromagnets are looking pretty fine even if they aren't design for this." Reported Gregory Adams, one of the leading slipspace Engineer currently in charge of a team of tech working on the mount.

"Good! Now if this drive have not fractures then we got ourselves a second drive!" Shouted back Daniel before he turns back to the console. "Harrier tell me the drive's talking." As the chief engineer demands a status report from the AI.

"She's singing alright. The containment capsule looks good. And the black hole generator is operating at peak efficiency." Replied Harrier as he quickens the diagnostic on the drive by diverting more of his processing power. "Okay she good to be mounted." Reported the AI as the last scan finishes.

"Alright someone get on that crane and mount this thing. And Adam, get your team together and bolt it down, I want it tighter than your wallet!" yelled Daniels as he tapped his com unit to switch channel to the bridge. "Engineering to bridge. Capture slipspace drive is secured, we're bolting that thing to its mount now. You can begin the charging procedure in one more minute."

"Bridge to Engineering, we acknowledge." Came the voice of Captain Andersons as he scan through the report sent to his personal datapad by Daniel. "Get it done, the sooner the better. Things just got a hell lot more complicated out there."

"Got it David….." paused Daniel as he turned on the mic at his console. "Adam get that drive bolted now!" before he return his attention to the bridge channel "You'll get the drive in 30 seconds." Before he switch off the channel. Grabbing his toolkits Daniel muttered as he ran out the door "Something you need to do it yourself."

Elsewhere on the bridge of the Defiant, David Anderson watch as the Turian and Salarian fired another salvo of mass driver slugs at the UNSC fleet currently protecting the Covenant Separatist and Spirit of Fire. "Chief Engineer Daniels reports the drive has been secured, redirecting power from the MAC to the slipspace drive. Charge rising at 25% per second. You still sure this is a good idea sir?" asked Harrier as he delivered his report.

"Get it done Harrier" said Anderson, complete ignoring the AI's question.

"Calculating jump coordinates….. Course plotted. Arming Archer missile pods A through J, Helixia Mark 2 autocannons spinned up and ready." Reported the AI as he goes through the tasks quickly. "Hang on to your hats!" warned the AI before he activated the covenant slipspace drive. The Defiant jumped into slipspace only to reappear seconds later above the Salarian and Turian flagship. Immediately lasers start to blast at the golden film of shield hugging the hull of the Human made ships.

"Jump completed. Firing missiles and autocannons" reported Harrier as he activated the weapons. 3000 Archer Mark 2 missile launched out of their tubes heading directly towards the two dreadnoughts. Seconds later hails of 50mm explosive railgun slugs rammed into the kinetic barriers of both ships.

"Status on our drive?" asked Anderson as more ships in the Turian and Salarian fleet started to concentrate fire on the Defiant, causing the ship to shake as mass accelerator slugs slammed forcefully into the shields.

"Covenant drive is offline as expected. Fail safe protocol shut it down the moment the magnetic coils failed. Our own drive is still powered. Warning shields are estimated to fail in 15 seconds." Reported Harrier as more slugs rammed into the shields. "I suggest we leave quickly."

"Do it. Get us out of here." Ordered Anderson as he watched the missiles quickly crossing the distance between the Defiant and the Enemy flagships. A bright blue portal of slipspace enlarged and swallowed the Defiant into the compressed space of slipspace before dumping the ship right into the middle of the UNSC 5th fleet. Seconds later, the missiles detonated covering the two of the kilometre long dreadnoughts in a large supercombined nuclear fireball. Without their commanders to command the fleet, the Salarian and turians hesitated before their second in command took over marshalling the fleets into a new battle position.

"Captain receiving a hail from the Field of Hope." Reported Harrier as he ran a scan through the ship's system.

"Put it on." Ordered Anderson even as he personally plotted the course for the Defiant to take its place in the sphere formation of the 5th Fleet.

"Anderson you crazy bastard. Well done!" laughed Cole as he watched the destruction caused by the implementation of Anderson's risky maneuverer. "Tanya remind me to recommend him for a Medal of honour after this." Said Cole off screen before he returned his attention to Anderson. "Right, that should keep them busy for a while." Grinned Cole as the Covenant Separatist fired a salvo of plasma torpedoes that chased away a group of Turian Cruisers that were moving in for broadsides. "Get your ship over to the Spirit of Fire for a hard dock and transfer that slipspace drive over. Cutter and his crew had done enough from what Serina's reports can tell me. The fleet will keep the Turian and Salarian busy."

"Yes Sir" said Anderson before he added "What about these….." as he glance over at his Datapad. "Asaris? They were with the Turian and Salarian before thing hit the fans."

Cole shook his head before replying "Not for me to decide. If they are non-hostile then I'll like to maintain it that way. Let The civis in the diplomatic corps deal with them. Now if you excuse me I got a battle to win" with that Cole cut off the com channel from his ship.

"Orders sir?" Asked Harrier innocently even as he charged up the MAC guns.

"Dock with the Spirit of Fire. And target this ship" Said Anderson as he selected a Salarian Cruiser that was attempting to intercept one of the fleeing civilian tugs that supposed to be assigned to hauling the massive alien artefact from which the Citadel races came from. There was a brief white flash as the a 800 ton ferric tungsten projectile accelerated out of the muzzle of the MAC gun before smashing into the cruiser seconds later, overloading the kinetic barriers and punching a hole straight through the ship.

"Thanks for the cover fire Defiant. Sunflower out." Radioed the captain of the civilian ship before the tug moves into the sphere formation. Anderson nodded before turning to manually implement the nav course for docking procedures.

"Docking with Spirit of Fire. Hark dock hatches are connecting. Clamps locked in on homing beacons." Reported Harrier as the Marathon Mark II cruiser slowly approached the bottom of the Spirit of Fire. A dull thump was later followed by a series of loud clanks that revert through the hull as the magnetic clamps locked into place. "Contact. Pressurising the Hard Docks, Please feel free to move about the cabin and Thank you for flying with UNSC defiant" Joked the AI before glares from Anderson shut the AI up.

"Chief Engineer Daniel, get your teams together and move that drive over to that Spirit of Fire. We got a battle to fight." Ordered Anderson before he stare out the viewport where a fierce though one sided battle is taking place.

Turian Escaped pod 90-D163

Near Receiving Relay 314

Drifting from the wreckage of Turian Dreadnought Warbringer.

General Septimus Orake growled as he watched the on-going battle between the fleets. Tapping the pod's com systems once again, "This is General Septimus Orake I need assistance in retrieval. Someone get their Thrasher chased hide over here!" Roared the general as he watched his second in command's incompetent battle formation. Seconds turned to minutes as no one replied to his hail.

"When I get my hands on the captain of that ship….." Growled Septimus before there was a loud clank as something connected with his escape pod. There was a moment of fear as he glace around for a breach before relaxed at the hiss of pressuring procedures in the airlock. He got up and grabbed a nearby Assault rifle before pointed it at the airlock.

The Hatch slid opened revealing a Turian in recon armour "General" came the voice of Saren Arterius. As Septimus lowered his rifle, Saren darted forward slamming a fist at the General before drawing his pistol and kicking the fallen assault rifle away. "Under the orders of Councillor Valern you are placed under arrest."

Coughing as he regains he breath Septimus narrowed his eyes "On what Charges? I was only following orders from the Hierarch. You no longer have any Specter Status. There is no more Citadel council!"

"We'll see about that" said Saren before pulling the trigger. The mass accelerator slug left the barrel of the pistol seconds before splattering the inside of the escape pod with the General's blood.

"Take him to the holding cell." Ordered Saren as Septimus howled in pain from the wound on his hand that was reaching for a conceal pistol. Two Turian soldiers marched forward and pulled the general o his feet dragging him to the modified crews quarter.

Growling with displeasure, Saren left the escape pod before tapping his com unit. "Destroy that pod." One of Palvern's Night mass accelerator gun blasted the pod before the ruined stealth frigate accelerated towards the mass relay, jumping through before plotting a direct course back to the Turian Homeworld, Palvern.

Authors note: Well here you go for Chapter 16. Hope you all like it. I got a few trail exams so will be unable to give you anything else for now except maybe Chapter 17's Sneak preview.