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Chapter 5
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Part 3
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3 AIF (After Imperial Founding)/
14.08.2552 UNSC Military Calendar/
CIC
Imperial Star Destroyer Vigilant, Palpatine Class
Reach
Epsilon Eridiani System
Milky Way Galaxy
The Vigilant emerged from the anomaly like a massive aquatic predator breaking through the surface of a calm lake. Within seconds, her sensors swept the area, and datalinks came alive with information sent by the escorts. The light ships had arrived moments before and had just enough time to get their bearings.
On this side, the anomaly hung above an open plain with a nearby mountain range nested on its other side. The Senate building was unmistakable as the only major structure in the area. It was between the anomaly and the mountains, surrounded by large warships sharing design similarities with the one that invaded Coruscant.
The Imperial reinforcements were emerging on the other side of the anomaly, leaving it as a shield between them and most enemy ships.
"Helm, get us clear from the anomaly and hard to port. Comms, three tasks. Try hailing the enemy and demand they cease and desist the unprovoked assault on the Senate. Second, have the rest of the Task Force break respectively to port and starboard. We'll engage the enemy focusing on each cruiser as we fly past them, defeating them in detail. Thirds, inform the Emperor that we'll be deploying ground forces to the Senate as soon as it's safe to do so. Weapons, I want targeting solutions on the closest enemy ship. Keep weapon yields safe for in-atmosphere use," Captain Dallin's voice felt much calmer than he did.
The super capital back on Coruscant boasted impressive firepower. However, the ship itself was ridiculously huge. The enemy vessels here were about the size of a Palpatine class. Their firepower should be more manageable in comparison. The only real question was would they hold back considering their exposed ground forces in the plain below?
A Victory, followed by a second slid out of the anomaly. As ordered, one broke right, and the other followed the Vigilant. More escorts arrived and rapidly formed into what in space would be a suicidally close formation.
"We have no answer from the enemy ships, Captain. General Cody acknowledges our arrival. Enemy assault teams have compromised the Senate building. The Emperor would appreciate it if we extract the Empress and Senators. He'll be holding the line with the Senate security forces for the time being."
The primaries were alive. That was a relief. Dallin didn't want to think about the political fallout they would face otherwise. He was sure that even now, the General was racing to Coruscant to pick up the pieces and that by itself would displease many people outside the military.
"Captain, we're detecting heavily encrypted chatter and many power sources in orbit. Refining scans now…."
"Target locked on. Synchronizing firing solutions with our escorts and the Dauntless…."
"Well, we tried to be diplomatic. Open fire," Dallin ordered.
Their target desperately attempted to rotate from a stationary position hovering five kilometers in the air. Its engines pointed at the side of the anomaly the Vigilant was bearing on it from, making it highly vulnerable.
A full broadside of turbo laser and Ion cannon batteries and the heavy dual turbo laser cannons that could target the enemy ships shifted and aimed. Thankfully, a redesign after the inglorious death of the prototype Palpatine class, when it was known as Imperator in the days of the Republic, solved many of the issues the original design had. That included shifting the places of various weapon emplacements to ensure they didn't obscure each other's firing lanes and provided maximum effective coverage and firepower in most directions around the ship.
It was too bad they weren't in space, the Captain lamented, watching the first salvo strike the enemy cruiser and splash over its shields. They glowed white with the strain, and the air around the impact points ignited from the delivered and reflected energies. Pulse lasers lashed back, harmlessly dissipating against the Vigilant's deflectors. As soon as they struck, the escorting CR90s emptied their proton torpedo racks flushing thirty torpedoes apiece at the enemy ship at point-blank range.
Point defense struck back and managed to take out a couple of the incoming warheads before the rest struck the ship just as the next coordinated salvo hit. The shield broke, and torpedoes bit into the silver hull. Explosions rocked the ship, racing up its engine pods which suddenly shut down before more detonations tore them apart. The rear quarter of the vessel blew up. The shockwave was just enough to raise a bit the middle of the dying ship and point its nose toward the ground. At the same time, its anti-gravity systems failed, and it plunged down like a burning spear.
The tactical display updated, showing that on the other side of the anomaly, a second enemy ship died without being able to bring most of its weapons to bear.
The Vigilant moved forth, flanked by the Dauntless and the Ravager. CR90 flew in a close defensive formation, followed by a single Arquitens light cruiser. Capital concussion missiles left its launchers nested within its relatively thick hull, followed by a light turbo laser barrage. Pulse lasers clawed at the streaking missiles. The next enemy ship was in a better position to respond to the sudden attack, and it needed to rotate less to protect its vulnerable engine area and offer a broadside to the advancing Imperials.
Plasma cannons struck true, splashing over the Vigilant's fully restored front shields. Hot plasma lines ignited torpedoes, which launched and raced toward the closest and most obvious threat.
"Shields are holding well!" Tactical reported. "Their firepower is either inferior, or they're limiting it in fear of immolating their troops!"
"Good," Dellin noted. A grim smile stretched the scars on his face pulling them into a full display. "Continue focusing on the enemy as we overtake them."
Sixteen plasma torpedoes splashed over the Vigilant's shields, engulfing her into a firestorm. The drain on the deflectors was significant, yet they held well enough. Return fire, now from four capital ships and their escorts, slammed into the side of the enemy cruiser. The only difference between this one and the first, which was about to crash nose-first into the ground, was the coloring. Instead of silver, the second was purple.
The enemy's shield broke, and turbo laser bolts hit nanolaminate armor. Hot plasma lines ruptured. Plasma cannons about to fire detonated, releasing hot plasma and sending destructive feedback through capacitors and plasma lines alike.
Finally, the rest of the Covenant ships reacted, sending a wild barrage of torpedoes at any target their gunners could lock on. Odd plasma beams struck at the Imperial ships, doing their best to avoid friendly fire.
"Reinforce forward deflectors and decelerate twenty percent. Have the Ravager take a point," Dellin ordered. The Vigilant's forward shields were down to fourteen percent after the latest hits.
The second Victory to exit the anomaly accelerated and moved at the head of the right prong of the Imperial formation.
Two missiles from the light cruiser braved the crippled PD network of the burning enemy cruiser. They struck it amidship in an area where earlier hits had boiled away the armor, opening compartments to the air. Even with their warhead yields dialed down, the consequent twin explosions were enough to break the cruiser's spine and send its two parts slowly spinning toward the ground.
Bellow, the plain shook as a cruiser in its death throes slammed into it like a spear. A wave of fire and debris spread in all directions.
A wave of plasma torpedoes and beams slammed into the Ravager, boring into her shields and engulfing her into a firestorm. Her acceleration carried her out of the inferno. Molten armor leaked from craters in her hull like hot blood. Dozens of fires burned where plasma torpedoes ignited Guardian emplacements.
Yet, the Ravager was still alive and in the fight. She retaliated with a whole barrage at the third enemy cruiser on that side of the battlefield.
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In orbit, a lone stealth satellite dutifully recorded the unfolding battle and, when its programming decided it was safe to do so, sent a burst transmission toward its masters.
Meanwhile, the acting Shangheli Fleetmaster stared at sensor feeds and listened to combat chatter with disbelief. Indeed, this couldn't be the will of the Gods?! Fury flooded his system when a sixth Ket-pattern battlecruiser died, yet the Heretics hadn't lost a single ship yet! Kantar's blood boiled to unleash the full righteous fury of his blessed weapons upon the Heretics! Unfortunately, many Shangheli warriors were caught out of position on the planet below. Even more importantly, he couldn't risk harming the relics the Heretics had gotten their stealing hands on! He had to do it the hard way.
Kantar's eyes blazed with unrestrained fury. The UNSC Heretics didn't matter anymore! This new, more dangerous Heresy against the order of the Gods had to be purged in holly fire!
"Bring the fleet into the atmosphere! We will kill these Heretics and ensure they won't run away with the relics!" Kantar' Utaralee gave a fateful order.
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Bridge
UNSC Leviathan
Vice Admiral Michael Standforth watched with no less disbelief than his Covenant counterpart the data burst from the stealth satellite. Everyone on the bridge who saw the unfolding battle stared at it in a mix of joy and sheer disbelief.
"Status change! The Covenant Fleet designated Alpha is breaking formation and turning towards Reach! Thermal spikes from Beta, they are moving toward the planet as well! The projected course has them heading towards the anomaly!" Leviathan's faithful AI dutifully reported.
Standforth looked at Leviathan's Captain, who was leaning over the primary sensor console. The younger man turned his head to look at him.
"Latchkey?" The Captain silently mouthed.
Standforth had only a hundred ships left to defend Reach with. There were scattered small battle groups across the system, either racing towards reach, fighting for their lives, or escorting evacuation efforts. Many of his ships were damaged, still conducting emergency repairs from the last battle. Going on the offensive would be suicide, given the correlation of forces. Yet, what he saw happening at that plain on Reach…
The Vice Admiral looked at the list of damaged ships that had their combat performance compromised the most. However, their slipspace drive and overall structural integrity were in good enough shape. A handful of frigates and destroyers fit the bill.
"Comms, order the Its Darkest Before the Dawn to break formation and head for Earth, implementing the Cole Protocol. She'll be carrying a priority message to High Command. Make sure they had recordings of everything we have on the anomaly and the ongoing battle."
"The presence of an overwhelming number of Covenant naval elements in Epsilon Eridiani is confirmed. I can't hold Reach for long. The presence of a Latchkey event on Reach is confirmed. The relevant data is attached. I am taking Battle Group Leviathan with attached elements from Reach's Defense Fleet into combat. The goal is to secure potential allies against the Covenant at all costs."
Now, Standforth had to plan how and when to intervene best. If the Covenant wanted to play it stupid, he would oblige them. They didn't deem his force a threat enough. Either that or the event on Reach shocked their commander into overreacting. The Vice Admiral was going to ensure that this mistake cost the alien bastards dearly.
"Centurion, plot an insertion, using Reach's gravity well to slingshot us into position while the planet's curve offers cover from the Covenant for as long as possible. The battle group will slave-targeting solutions to the flagship. I want killing shots, Centurion. Concentrate enough firepower on a single target to guarantee it," Standforth began outlining his rough plan.
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Part 4
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3 AIF (After Imperial Founding)/
14.08.2552 UNSC Military Calendar/
Senate building
Reach
Epsilon Eridiani System
Milky Way Galaxy
If he lived through this, Six would bring home specific valuable lessons. For example, having powerful shields protecting your buildings and a single small warship could be vital for holding the place against what should have been an overwhelming number of Covenant troops. The enemy never got the chance to consolidate and use their superior numbers properly. What he learned was a CR90 corvette was more than capable of smashing troop concentrations with impunity. The plain outside turned into a graveyard for whole Covenant legions, and that was before Imperial reinforcements flooded through the anomaly.
The same was true about aerial insertion. While the Covenant managed to deploy strike teams to the roof of the Senate building, only a relatively small portion of the enemy troopships made it through. With every combat transport that the building's impressive AA and the Corvette smashed from the air, the enemy became less mobile.
Unexpectedly, the primary threat was the Thick boarding craft the Covenant used. There were simply too many of them to shoot down, and given time, they could cut their way through any part of the building.
That was how Six found himself back in the main Senate chamber. Localized counter-attacks, often led by the Emperor with his possible magic powers, dealt with the Covenant's attempts for vertical envelopment. For now, at least, they were running out of combat transports, and no one still alive dared brave a landing below the Corvette and fighters above. This left the ground assault and Thicks landing all over the place.
From what the Spartan could gather, the ground assault wasn't going the Covenant's way. The fighting below was reported to be vicious. However, the Imperial forces held the line for now. The Covenant couldn't muster the numbers for a decisive push, and now, they might never get the chance. From time to time, Six glanced through the open the door to his right. Through the transparent metal window, he could see the lower edge of the anomaly. More importantly, he could see triangular-shaped ships slugging it with the Covenant CCS cruisers at close quarters and winning. The wrecks of at least four alien battlecruisers burned across the plains. He had a good view of the lower part of another one, obscured by shields that glowed near binding intensity.
"Covenant assault parties are consolidating on several levels below us. They might try to separate us from the troops holding the lower levels, then envelop them in a pincer maneuver. We can't let that happen," C-3PO kept translating. "While the Senate security will hold positions, we will ensure the enemy couldn't overrun us before our reinforcements get there."
Six knew only the deadly pulse lasers of the remaining Covenant cruisers prevented the deployment of more Imperial troops. He got the impression that the ships that came to the rescue didn't have full troop compliments on board.
Cody pointed at a nearby platform and went in, surrounded by a group of Imperial Infantry. The Emperor jumped down from an open platform to an empty pod all the way down to their destination. At the same time, his security detail used the Senator's pods to descend to the compromised levels. So far, there was a single incursion into the vast chamber. On the way down, Six could see the burned stains that remained from the Covenant scout party. If he didn't know better, he would need a forensics report to recognize the piles of burned and melted remains.
A loud thunderclap echoed from outside, heralding the death of yet another warship. Six hoped it was a Covenant one.
The platform they rode stopped near a side entrance, and the Imperial troops jumped out. The Spartan followed suit. He could already hear Covenants' voices – Elites shouting at each other and the yipping of panicking Grunts. He saw Kenobi leading a charge to the right while Cody tapped his shoulder and nodded to the left side of the corridor.
The Imperial soldiers were relatively fast and agile considering how large their armor was. However, Six was quicker and more agile. With the possible exception of Kenobi, he hasn't yet seen anyone who can rival his enhanced reflexes, which was cold comfort. Who knew if the Emperor was unique or not? That was something other than what the Spartan could afford to bet on.
Six's mind pushed those stray thoughts to the side, and he focused on the familiar rhythm of combat. Imperial heavy troopers led the way, using their stronger shields and thick armor to absorb incoming fire. Their heavy weapons laid down suppressive fire, pushing the Covenant back.
A Zealot roared something, stiffening the enemy's ranks. Instead of falling back, the Covenant suddenly counter-attacked. Zealots charged forward wielding energy blades, followed by Grunt suicide bombers. Behind them, Elites laid down, covering fire as they advanced.
The Imperials met them as if such tactics were nothing new. They slowly fell back while filling the corridor with deadly blaster bolts. Grenades of all types rolled over the floor before detonating in a variety of curious effects. There were standard fragmentation types and flash-bang variants that let out piercing screams. Then steam and ice burst forth snap-freezing a pair of Grunts waving around live plasma grenades. They stumbled yet failed to fall due to the dark blue ice holding them in place. The plasma grenades detonated, engulfing the corridor with blue fire.
As far as the Zealots went, they might have been able to close ranks if faced with UNSC light weapons and even a SAW or two. Their shields were tough, and their armor was nothing to scoff at.
Against the firepower the Imperials casually wielded, such tactics begged to get you shot in the face and then have your mug shot off, which is precisely what happened. There was not much gold left on the charred carcasses, Six stepped over as he advanced alongside his unlikely allies.
He noted something that only Spartan teams among the UNSC occasionally did – the Imperials' first rank stepped back in coordinated intervals, letting their shields recharge. In contrast, the second and then a third part of the unit took point. What had to be a combat engineer then proceeded to spray something into melted scars in the troopers' armors where Covenant plasma burned into it.
By the time the thus-treated soldiers were on point, their shields were recharged, and their armor was as good as it could get without spending time in a repair shop.
That was something to remember for when the UNSC could deploy shielded troops en masse.
The only real downside was Six didn't get to shoot his blaster once. The Imperials kept him as an advisor and did their best to kill any Covenant who got in sight before the Spartan could get a bead on the bastards.
Tactically and strategically speaking, doing so made sense. Right now, Six was an invaluable source of information for the Imperials and the only one who might recognize nasty covenant surprises. It still irked the Spartan. He was supposed to be killing Covenant, not playing advisor! Six bit the inside of his cheek at that thought.
Presenting himself as reasonable and making the best first impression possible as the representative of the UNSC might be the most important thing he could do for the war effort, the UNSC in general, and humanity, well, his humanity, anyway. Compared to that, what was killing a few of the Covenant bastards?
Blinding flashes of light and rumbling, prolonged explosions echoed from outside. Six looked through the windows and up to see two ships engulfed by blossoming detonations. One was an Imperial one – there was no way to mistake those massive triangular shapes for something the Covenant built. The other was the fifth Covenant cruiser Six saw die today. The Imperial ship was slowly drifting toward the ground while secondary explosions shook its hull. There were dozens of fires bursting from breaches in its hull, which was molten and mishappen.
The Covenant bastards weren't so lucky. Concentrated salvos kept striking their ship until it broke into three separate pieces. The drive section blew up spectacularly, which might have been deadly if not for the building's shields.
It was deadly for any Covenant troops caught in the open.
The Imperial ships advanced and fired at a foe Six couldn't see from his position. Small escorts of a design he hadn't seen before, but obviously of Imperial make, broke formation and headed towards the Senate. Here and there, Six could see tiny shapes detach from presumed hangars on the underside of the Imperial cruisers, which led towards them as well.