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Chapter 9
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Part 3
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3 AIF (After Imperial Founding)/
15.08.2552 UNSC Military Calendar/
Bridge, UNSC Leviathan
high orbit above Reach
Epsilon Eridiani System
Milky Way Galaxy
The Imperial eight kilometers long warship slowly made its way into a high orbit, then moved away from Reach, leaving behind its escort fleet that formed up with the already present foreign forces.
Vice Admiral Stanforth divided his attention between the tactical display showing all ships in the area and Veil's holographic image. The man appeared surprisingly young for a General or a head of state. If appearances were anything to go by, he would be in his early to mid-thirties. He had short black hair atop a rugged face with faint traces of old scars marring it – drops of molten metal and shrapnel.
On the other hand, his eyes were glowing pools of metal. Advanced cybernetics with a gimmick, Stanforth first thought. Yet, this was the man claiming responsibility for the Battle Meditation stunt. The Vice Admiral decided it might be better if they didn't take anything for granted.
"General Veil?" Stanforth politely inquired, waiting for a robot or AI to translate on the Imperial site. While Centurion already had a pretty good database to work with, he was still refining it. Besides, it would be good to see how the Imperial translation would compare to the one Leviathan's AI could do in real-time. "I am Admiral Michael Stanforth," He introduced himself, leaving his unusual first name. Stanforth had more than enough native speakers butchering it all the time to be irritating at the best of times.
"Admiral, I am General Delkatar Veil, commanding officer of all Imperial Forces on this side of the portal. I am also Mandalore the Restorer, leader of the Mandalorian Freehold, a member state of the Federated Empire," The man introduced himself without waiting for translation. He spoke English with an odd accent that was a strange mixture of European and British. His accent was 'hard,' reminding Stanforth of people of Germanic or Eastern European descent. Yet, simultaneously, it was mixed and somewhat mellowed by what sounded like upper-crust British, with a hint of Scottish perhaps.
No matter how Veil knew the language and Stanforth had the sinking suspicion it might have something to do with the Battle Meditation, the accent would likely come from whatever languages people spoke on the other side of the portal.
"I will be brief, Admiral," Veil continued. "I need whatever strategic information you can provide on the Covenant. A rough number of systems, fleet assets, and any key industrial and logistics centers you know of. We will also need information and location on any other major Covenant incursions in your space. The same goes for the state of your military and economy after thirty years of war. I need to know what we have to work with to make educated recommendations to the Imperial High Command and Government for the future prosecution of the war."
That was a high bar to clear, and practically everything the General wanted to know about the UNSC, Stanforth couldn't tell him without permission from the UNSC Security Council. Otherwise, doing so would be treason. It was plain and simple like that.
"Meanwhile, be advised, I'm taking the Victory to have a word with the Covenant battle group forming deeper in the system," Veil continued.
Well, Stanforth decided he could live with that. It was high time for the Covenant to drink more of their own medicine.
"I can give you what we have on the Covenant, General Veil. However, I am afraid I can't reveal strategic data on the UNSC without clearance from higher authority," Stanforth explained.
"In that case, I would appreciate it if you get your staff to prepare a comprehensive briefing on the Covenant. I suggest we meet face t of face after we deal with the enemy naval presence in the system," Veil suggested.
"That might be for the best," Stanforth noted. He tried hard not to think about the possible dangers of meeting a space wizard in person. Finding an excuse to delay or avoid such a meeting for the time being might be for the best.
"Admiral," Veil nodded and cut the connection.
"Centurion, compile a strategic level briefing on the Covenant. Everything we know about them," Stanforth ordered. "Someone locate the Covenant staging area."
A few days ago, it would have been much easier before Covenant scout groups hunted down all satellites and industrial centers they could without engaging UNSC battle groups, ODPs, and the Super MACs.
The Vice Admiral had a few minutes to get back to coordinating operations against the Covenant on Reach before the next crisis point hit.
"Sir, the Victory just vanished! There is no reaction from the Imperial fleet!" The Sensor operator reported. It was a Lieutenant Junior Grade now, with the primary shift away for a rest period as of an hour ago.
Stanforth looked away from his terminal, and sure enough, the large symbol of the Victory was no longer present on the tactical display. "First, find if we can locate her deeper in the system, near any concentration of Covenant forces you might detect. If we can't find the ship in the next fifteen to twenty minutes, call the Imperials," Stanforth decided.
He needed a bit of shuteye as well. Stimulants could hold you up only for so long before you began making mistakes like catching the unstated fact that the Imperials had better sensors as well. Otherwise, they would have needed a distributed sensor network to be able to detect Covenant ships deep into the system from Reach's orbit. They hadn't deployed a sensor network, right?
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High Council Chamber
High Charity
Staging Area New Hope
Milky Way Galaxy
Utter, deadly silence gripped the hundreds of Councilors. Mercy had never seen the like of it before, either in person or in the archives when reviewing vital sessions from the distant past. It wasn't as if the Covenant only won battles against the humans until now. There were defeats, if rare. A few were catastrophic for whole fleets, those who led them, and their backers in various Ministries. Yet, all those events had something in common. They all came to be due to arrogance from commanders who saw the war as little more than a sport, mere extermination of heretics. At the same time, individual human commanders succeeded due to a combination of desperate madness and expert use of primitive yet effective weaponry.
In cycle upon cycle of war, the strategic situation didn't change. If lucky, the humans needed to outnumber the Covenant forces. They faced three to one in space to have a chance of victory. When facing a competent military leader, instead of an average administrator or a Fleetmaster whose only experience was securing precious Relics, the humans tended to suffer catastrophic defeats, no matter the odds.
This was different. Mercy again watched recordings from the fighting on the other side of the portal, dispatched with the last transport to make it before utter disaster struck. Humans and unknown aliens lived together in a way not so different from how the Covenant united multiple species under a single banner. What the humans used to unite everyone else, if they were the leaders, was currently a mystery.
What was important was their military response when that fool Rho'Barutamee attacked them unprovoked upon detecting Relics. Mercy and the other two Hierarchs knew the truth yet buried it to preserve the Covenant. They were guilty of the systemic murder of countless humans. They thought the price was worth it. He did as well, and his silence was why he was now one of the most powerful Prophets in existence. His silence was the price he paid for his position, and now, it might very well be not only Mercy's but the Covenant's damnation.
The humans of the UNSC were the Reclaimers, the Forerunner's chosen heirs. While it was a reasonable assumption, it was still an assumption that the UNSC was the sole policy of humans in the galaxy. With them gone, the Covenant could continue to exist and, in the long run, reform so it would survive the truth that the Great Journey was a lie.
As to why the Forerunners chose humanity as their heirs? Mercy could see it now. A building-sized hologram hovered in the chamber's center so everyone could see it. It showed a human with its hand raised, smiting down scores of Yanme'e like the avatar of an angry god. Like an avatar of the Forerunners themselves, Mercy thought.
Other still images hovered above them. Those showed triangular ships coming out of the portal and smiting down larger Covenant cruisers with unexpected ease. Finally, the last image from the flagship of the Acting Fleetmaster Kantar'Utaralee – a handful of the triangular ships rising to challenge nearly ten times their number of Covenant vessels. They were dying one after another, as it should be. Until there was a flash of light, and a fleet died in the burning skies of a human world.
Long-range sensor sweeps from the few ships still in the system and fresh reinforcements confirmed that Kantar'Utaralee was dead. The Fleet of Valiant Prudence had been utterly destroyed. The Ministry of Feverent Intercession appeared to have forced the Covenant into a real war in a catastrophic way.
There were about a hundred ships en route to that human system at this moment. The largest fleet en route was under the command of Fleetmaster Thel'Vadamee. While he was one of the few military commanders deployed against the humans, with a record to match, he had less than sixty ships at his disposal. By the time he reached the human world, the enemy would have likely reinforced it heavily.
"We need information, Mercy's grave voice shattered the silence. "We need to know what exactly the Ministry of Feverent Intercession unleashed upon the galaxy. The humans might be heretics, yet all the other aliens upon the world beyond the portal? We know not! Fleetmaster Rho'Barutamee began a war against a foe he knew nothing about, and now we've lost nearly two hundred ships and thousands upon thousands of faithful for no good reason!"
"The Prophet of Mercy is right!" Truth proclaimed. "We must act now before this new enemy can mobilize and strike down more of us! We need to find out who and what we are facing! And we need to convince those misguided souls that the humans they consort with are heretics condemned to die, yet they need not share the heretics' fate!"
"Ignorance doesn't excuse heresy! Heresy is heresy!" The Prophet of Objection screamed loud enough to be heard. He raised a fist in the air and shook it. "All heretics must burn!"
And that was a key example of why the Covenant wouldn't survive the truth, Mercy knew. Too many fanatical believers would never accept that the Great Journey is a lie. In contrast, others whose faith was not so zealous or blind would doubt and almost certainly try to stop the murder of humans. That would lead to a civil war, which would be more ruinous than any outside threat.
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Part 4
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3 AIF (After Imperial Founding)/
15.08.2552 UNSC Military Calendar/
Bridge, UNSC Leviathan
high orbit above Reach
Epsilon Eridiani System
Milky Way Galaxy
He suffered one shock too many as of late, Stanforth decided. Otherwise, the effortless destruction of nearly thirty more Covenant ships would have struck him harder. Oh, the news was great. It meant the enemy had very few mobile assets left in the system, most of them frigates stuck in Reach's atmosphere. Within hours, aerospace assets would be moving to destroy most of them.
Sadly, the sensor logs the Vice Admiral had were exclusively taken from long range, showing little more than the appearance of the Imperial battle wagon, followed by the rapid destruction of the Covenant ships. That wasn't surprising. Veil's flagship outgunned and out massed them by a significant margin. Due to her shields and armaments, Victory didn't have to worry about lining up spinal-mounted MACs to achieve kills while fearing being flanked.
If anything, Stanforth felt jealous. He could have saved countless people with a few ships like this, even if the Covenant eventually pushed him back through overwhelming numbers. At least, the future looked up for all the issues the Federated Empire was likely to bring and demand. It wasn't like they were in a position to decline most 'requests.'
Another thing the Admiral made a point of for his next report to Earth was the speed of the Victory. It took her half an hour to leave orbit, kill enough Covenant ships that would have given his remaining assets a run for their money in open combat, then return to high orbit. Further, whatever method of FTL the Imperials used, it wasn't Slipspace. The Victory vanished one moment, then appeared back in orbit, just like she left – without a sign of a portal. Looking at it, the ship seemed to stretch if watched in slow motion, then shoot forward and vanish from sensors before it could reach light speed and move out of sensor range. Until they knew more, any assumptions on speed and logistics limitations based on Slipspace travel were pointless.
At least an increasing amount of good news was coming from the ground. Evacuation of threatened population centers was ongoing apace. Suicidal Covenant troops were handled, if sometimes with heavy casualties. The rest of the enemy ground forces had gone to ground. They weren't doing anything obvious to impact evacuation or consolidation efforts. As soon as the Covenant frigates in the atmosphere were no longer an issue, air power could search for the remaining enemy ground forces and their hidden, if not cloaked, bases. Those they could service from orbit unless they needed to capture prisoners and more Covenant material.
Stanforth was about to get a few hours of shut-eye before relieving the Captain so he could do the same when a slipspace portal opened dangerously close to Reach. While it was possible to open one in the atmosphere, it was dangerous, presumably even for the Covenant, because that wasn't something they regularly did. The UNSC could do it in theory, yet even with a state-of-the-art drive and AI crunching the numbers, the odds were good something would go wrong with disastrous consequences.
The fleet returned to high alert when a battered Halberd destroyer slowly slid out of the portal. Most of her armor was gone. There was no mistaking the damage from glancing hits by plasma torpedoes. Her nose was cut away by a plasma beam, destroying the two signature MAC cannons the class was famous for.
"IFF reads as UNSC Elbe. Last known tasking was escorting the Rapid Offensive Picket," Centurion reported. "They should have been in reserve, ready to respond to attacks to the closest of the Outer Colonies on the other side of Sol from us…."
"We've got an incoming message, patching it through…." The Communication officer acted a bit more sure of herself this time. Then again, Junior Grade Lieutenants weren't exactly accustomed to being under the eyes of Vice Admirals and Flag Officers….
"This is Commander Gavin Storm of the UNSC Elbe, declaring Winter Contingency at Cygnus system. New Jerusalem is under attack by Covenant forces. The Rapid Offensive Picket deployed as a response. However, General Richards doesn't expect them to hold against the present opposition for long. As of a week ago, Task Force Pandora was still able to contest the orbitals, but that won't last after the Covenant receives reinforcements…." The Commander suddenly paused. Quiet voices came over the comm, followed by a loud exclamation. "Bloody hell, what's that monster?! Evasive maneuvers!"
"There are a lot of mining operations in that system…." Stanforth grimaced. "Commander Storm, this is Vice Admiral Stanforth, Acting Commander Reach Defense Fleet. Stand down. All ships in orbit are friendly! I say again, all ships in orbit are friendly. Continue your report. I need to know the status of Task Force Pandora, our ground forces, and what opposition they are facing!"
"Task Force Pandora was at about sixty percent combat capability across the board. The light ODPs above the capital and industrial complex in orbit there was the primary reason why we held up as well as we did, sir. There were fifteen Covenant capital ships besieging New Jerusalem, with escorts and troop carriers when we left. Scout groups were going after the Cygnus and the dispersed mining operations. They've been landing in force and bringing reinforcements for the past few days before the Elbe got damaged trying to interdict their efforts. Army units held the capital and major evacuation centers. At the same time, elements from the 26th Marine Expeditionary Force dropped in to cover evacuation convoys and the smaller settlements. Most Marines were still in orbit, held in reserve as of a week ago."
Before the Covenant found Reach, Stanforth would have likely brought Battle Group Leviathan to reinforce New Jerusalem if there was anything left to reinforce by the time they went there. Now? He was confident that if High Command on Earth could have contacted Task Force Polaris and the Rapid Offense Picket in time, they would have pulled them back to Sol or sent them to reinforce Reach. There would be no reinforcements going to New Jerusalem potent enough to make a difference, if any, headed there in the first place.
The Cole Protocol wasn't fully in effect for Cygnus – the Covenant knew where it was. All that mattered secrecy-wise was to delay them finding Earth. Between Cygnus and Epsilon Eridiani, it was only a matter of time now, anyway.
"Contact General Veil. It's time we see what he will do with strategic information we give him and the Federated Empire," Stanforth decided. He knew it was a long shot, yet it was the only thing that might make a difference over there.
The Ensign, still on comm duty, spoke with a perky woman with short blond hair before Veil's image appeared.
"Vice Admiral, what do you need?" The man asked in English, which sounded slightly less rough than the last time.
"We just got the news that one of our colonies is under siege by the Covenant. All the reserve forces we can afford to send are already deployed, and we don't believe they can hold for long. This information is a week old. I formally request assistance from the Federated Empire to relieve the colony of New Jerusalem and the Cygnus system," Stanforth bit the bullet. He was sure he wouldn't hear the end of it from the likes of Paragonsky or her chief attack dogs.
"Location, distance, opposition," Veil demanded in a no-nonsense tone. "We'll also need a way to talk with your people over there as well as translators and friendly faces to confirm we are not a Covenant trick or worse."
"Cygnus is twenty-five lightyears from here," Stanforth grimaced. Measuring interstellar distance that way made sense. Now, how to explain how long was an Earth year?
"I don't think we will have the same light years, Admiral. Or the same standard hours, days, and years," Veil noted.
"Will a holographic display showing this system and the location of Cygnus help?"
"That might be enough for Vicky to find the right system. I would appreciate maps of the system and the world we need to secure. Once we have what we need, we can deploy immediately. Unless there is a huge discrepancy between your and our years, the distance and location of the star system shouldn't meaningfully change," Veil paused briefly. "Are there any known gravitational or other anomalies in this corner of space? Black holes, rogue planets, and stars?"
"Not to my knowledge…." Stanforth trailed off, wondering why that would matter. Did such things influence the Imperial way of faster-than-light travel? "I'll ensure your specialists on board get a holoprojector with the relevant data or camera feed on one."
"Ah, yes. There should be a few of our engineers on board your ship trying to make our system talk with each other."
Only now, Stanforth's brain registered that Veil's eyes weren't glowing like pits of molten metal. They were dark and calm instead. That was another point towards them being cybernetic.