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Chapter 10
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Part 5
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3 AIF (After Imperial Founding)/
15.08.2552 UNSC Military Calendar/
Copenhagen Station, Moncton-class OWP
high orbit above Earth
Sol System
Milky Way Galaxy
Veil let them digest his words and took a sip of his drink.
"Certain concerns would necessarily limit the size of our military deployment on this side of the portal. Our navigators are nearly one hundred percent sure that the portal doesn't lead to where we initially believed it led – the Unknown Regions of the galaxy. Instead, they are convinced we are in what we call the Tyrene Galaxy, about two million light years from Corcusca. Considering we don't know if the portal will suddenly vanish one day, this puts us in an unfortunate strategic position," The General explained. "A science vessel would arrive eventually to ensure an independent confirmation about our location in the universe. Practically speaking, no matter if we are deep within the Unknown Regions or in another galaxy, the key issue is the same, we risk stranding without support anything we deploy on this side of the portal."
Those words were like a punch in the gut for Stanforth. So this was how desperately needed and wanted hope dies… The expressions on the Security Council members betrayed they didn't enjoy hearing this.
"That said, it's not all doom and gloom," Veil continued."We can't simply assume the portal will close and rid us of the Covenant problem. Allowing them to breach it again risks trillions on Coruscant alone, which is unacceptable."
Was the bastard playing with them? And trillions? On a single world? The hell? What exactly was the Federated Empire if Veil wasn't bullshitting them?
"Further, there are certain technologies we are very interested in. Slipspace theory and physical examples from you. Covenant beam weapons of different stripes and their shields as well. The bio-foam your infantry is using will be useful for our emergency services," Veil made a short but essential list of what the Imperials wanted in exchange for aiding the UNSC. "We would like to take a look at your AI technology, especially in the ways you keep your AIs from going rogue, to, if possible, improve our contingencies in that regard given the droid rebellion we suffered a few years ago. These are prizes enough to risk commitment over here besides the absolute minimum. The mere existence of the portal, which means it is possible to create a fast way to travel between or within galaxies, is another thing of interest. Finally, there might be a way to mitigate the dangers of the portal just closing one day."
That statement ensured the UNSC officers exchanged many loaded glances.
"A joint research initiative is the least we can do because of the assistance you already provided on Reach and the Cygnus system, General Veil," Paragosky quickly agreed.
Stanforth still couldn't figure out what game she was playing.
"That much I can approve without a second thought. We will be providing you with slipspace drive examples and the theory behind them as well. I also like the idea of joint research in Covenant slipspace drives and ways to improve ours. The Covenant are orders of magnitude faster than us, so we know the technology can be greatly refined from what we have at this point," Hood was all business as if he didn't get shocked by Veil's earlier words.
What are the implications of humans in another galaxy? That was something Stanforth wasn't going to think about without a few drinks in reach.
"In that case, I have a request and a brief explanation for the reasons behind it. The request is for a small FTL capable ship with crew and fuel, the smallest one that can easily travel at least four hundred light years without the need to resupply or refuel. The reason for this is the nature of hyperspace and a phenomenon we call the Hyperspace Barrier. First, our way to travel faster than light has certain limitations yours lacks. Hyperspace is an alternative, yet adjianced dimension to ours, allowing us to practically travel faster than light without actually breaching the light-speed barrier. The primary downside from a practical standpoint is that objects in real space throw gravitational shadows in hyperspace. The larger the object, the more massive and solid the shadow. Planets and stars can throw shadows at their center as solid in hyperspace as the real thing. If safety features don't kick in, a ship traveling at light speed, as people often call it, can, in practice, smash into the shadows of planets, stars, supernovas, or black holes. With safeties engaged, and if not traveling too fast on an unexplored route, this would lead to the ship exiting hyperspace at the edge of the gravity well instead of blowing up spectacularly."
"That's an odd limitation," Stanforth thought aloud. "Slipspace has its weirdness as well," He shrugged, and Hood nodded in agreement.
"The Hyperspace Barrier surrounds our galaxy with a gravity field that's just shy of two hundred light years thick. This makes practical travel beyond the edge of our galaxy impossible. Any attempt would first have to travel in real space for more than two hundred years. Slipspace doesn't seem to be influenced by gravity enough to matter. Not if you can utilize it in the atmosphere of a planet, no matter how dangerous."
"Our drives and navigational computers, even our newest Smart AIs, can't make the calculations needed to exit within the atmosphere due to the gravitational disturbances. However, it should be possible to traverse through such disturbance if the goal is to exit slipspace beyond it." Hood explained. "Barring our newest drives, what we have deployed across the fleet is capable of about two-point-six-five light years a day. There are a handful of ships with our newest generation of slipspace drives installed able to travel nearly eight light years a day."
"Thirty to forty days to cross the barrier if the ships are small enough for one of our capitals to bring it to beyond the galactic edge. If this experiment works, we could afford to risk more assets on this side of the portal than otherwise. Conditionally on its success, I'm provisionally offering a deal between the UNSC, Mandalorian Freehold, and the Mid-Rim Alliance for upgrading your industry and shipbuilding capabilities in exchange for certain concessions. Shared research and development in fields the Federated Empire and its member states are interested in is, of course, one of them. Another is that when the overhaul of your industry is complete, we will benefit from it. We will directly or indirectly utilize a percentage of the capacity of those factories and shipyards. They will either build licensed components and ships for us, or our personnel will utilize them to build ships for us. After a reasonable amount of production to pay for the upgrades enters our service, we will have a priority on construction contracts for the same amount of previously negotiated industrial output. We will be paying market prices for it. I am sure you can find useful things to buy with those credits."
After finishing his proposal, Veil leaned back in his seat and sipped his drink, waiting for a counter-proposal.
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Part 6
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3 AIF (After Imperial Founding)/
15.08.2552 UNSC Military Calendar/
Earth Defense Perimetter
Sol System
Milky Way Galaxy
The UNSC's Security Council took a few hours to digest the news and offers from Mandalore. At the same time, the arrival of his flagship, the Victory, took mere hours after breaking orbit away from New Jerusalem, hammering the point that the strategic realities had changed in the past few days.
If anything, the UNSC's commanders had time to make decisions due to the long time it took to communicate across the stars. That lag made it much more critical that any decision, any dispatch of forces, had to be carefully and deliberately thought about. Given travel times, taking a few hours or days to deliberate and plan, it could often be worth the delay if it meant they wouldn't waste irreplaceable assets or just send them on to pointlessly move from system to system, chasing ghosts.
The speed with which the Imperials moved and communicated shattered that paradigm. The time to plan and reach decisions suddenly shrank by orders of magnitude. While that was a boon in the long term, considering the Covenant's advantages in speed and communications, it would take time to get used to.
Fortunately for everyone involved, one of the first things Admiral Hood did before being lost in arguments on the path forward was to issue a series of orders which no one on the Security Council particularly disagreed on given the changed situation.
First, Earth's defensive forces received a warning that more friendly alien ships would be on the way. That precaution helped avoid unfortunate 'friendly' fire incidents. Everyone in the area was tense when the Victory suddenly appeared and decelerated on the edge of Earth's Defensive Perimeter without the tell-tale sign of the slip space portal opening. Yet, no one was trigger-happy enough to shoot first and ask questions later.
Multiple UNSC battle groups fell in a mixture of parade and escort formation around the dagger-like space dreadnought. They looked at her with all their passive and some active sensors. ODPs maneuvered to have clear shots at the newcomer if it came to it. At the same time, Victory lit up her massive engines and glided toward Earth's orbit with a grace and agility that such an enormous ship had no business possessing.
On the planet, multiple bases and hospitals are already on high alert due to the potential Winter Contingency receiving new orders. They were to prepare for the immediate arrival of casualties and refugees from New Jerusalem who needed to be cared for and processed.
Meanwhile, there was no hiding that something was wrong from the population on Earth. The disruption in inter-system traffic under potential Winter Contingency was enough to ensure everyone in the system would connect the dots sooner or later. The sudden recall of all military personnel not currently on duty was painfully obvious, as well as the evacuation and move of critical government personnel.
Orders for civilian evacuations didn't follow yet – that would happen when Covenant's presence in Sol was confirmed because, at that point, what was left of the UNSC's economy would be dying in short order anyway… And in reality, most people on Earth would die if the USNC military failed to stop the Covenant. It wasn't like there was a safe haven or available shipping to save more than a fraction of the population.
The arrival of the Federated Empire didn't change that calculus. Evacuation of Earth or most remaining Inner Colonies simply wasn't feasible. However, it just might become possible to hold them… The regular citizens of Earth were unaware of such calculations, though many suspected or outright knew how bad the War was going. They knew that the military was stirring all over the place like an angered wasp hive.
The news about humanity's new allies didn't come from official government sources. Initially, no one outside the military knew who or what they were. Instead, countless people, first on Earth, then across Sol, watched the news coming live from a handful of places in the mother world.
First, the news broke from the hearth of Europe, where one of the planet's oldest military and hospital complexes was situated. What hundreds of years ago used to be the Ramstein air base in Germany had grown by leaps and bounds, becoming a hub for treating military casualties across the continent and, as importantly, the seat of quick reaction forces to respond to natural disasters and major incidents that might overwhelm local authorities from the Atlantic shores of France to the Ural Mountains.
Strictly speaking, the complex wasn't a proper military base, even if it had an increased military presence since the War began. Its extensive airways and hangars were still full of the equipment and supplies needed for disaster response instead of military equipment. Thus, the relatively small garrison was heavily reinforced and established a perimeter around the complex, which naturally led a lot of reporters from across Europe to race to the area.
The drone camera of an independent journalist from Sweden first caught the trails of descending ships heading their way. Soon, everyone in the region with a camera pointed it at the sky, wondering what was happening. The lack of sirens, announcements to go to shelters, or the deceptive calm of the soldiers guarding the Ramstein complex helped keep everyone calm and only increased the confusion of the situation.
Soon enough, the descending craft came close enough for their distinct shapes to become apparent. Some were the familiar forms of Pelicans and heavier transports utilized by the UNSC – a regular sight on Earth and most colonies. However, there were many more small crafts with odd shapes and coloration. Some were flying bricks, not dissimilar to the UNSC's design philosophy. Others were distinctly strange. As the ships approached the Ramstain complex, the Pelicans and other UNSC transports came first, while the rest decelerated and entered a waiting pattern, hovering above the area. That allowed countless cameras to zoom in on them, revealing alien writing and nose art on the few ships with it.
Meanwhile, yet another set of orders made it from the UNSC's Security Council to the UNSC as a whole, covering both military and civilian ships. Soon, parts of the new directives leaked, adding vital pieces to the puzzle.
By order of Fleet Admiral Terrence Hood, the Cole Protocol is partially suspended due to recent strategic developments. Direct retreat from Covenant forces to UNSC worlds not confirmed compromised is still forbidden. The Cole Protocol is suspended for systems confirmed compromised by the Covenant but still held by UNSC and allied forces. As of 15.08.252, Cole Protocol is stopped when traveling to the Epsilon Eridiani, Cygnus, and Reef systems. Attached to these orders are sensor profiles and translation packages for allied ships operated by the Federated Empire.
Early on the 19th of August, 2552, the UNSC military government would officially announce the first contact with a friendly alien policy, the ongoing negotiations for a joint alliance against the Covenant, trade deals, and technology transfers.