Thanks for all the reviews, especially to Halo Star Wars X-over fan. I'm pretty chill with Reviews and as long as you aren't making stuff and saying rude stuff up I'm fine with harsh reviews. Hope you enjoy this chapter.
Note it will be redone after I get some Betas on to read this.
(Also if anyone is an artist or something it'd be helpful to have a cover. PM me if you wanna work together. If you know any good artist on websites like DeviantArt do me a favor and asked them for me because I don't have a account and don't intend on making one. Just PM me and I'll give an idea of what it could look like).
Chapter 2: Contact II.
SOURCE OF TRANSMISSION: Charis Colony, Perseus Arm.
DATE: July 13th, 2561, (0012 Hours) (12:12 AM)
Captain Cooper watched as appearing from thin air an entire armada of arrowhead ships appeared outside of the Lone Wolf. Each one approached closer and closer to the Lone Wolf for the kill like a ravenous pack of wolves towards a lone sheep. The ship was on its last legs, its Slipspace drives were killed, and its hull was heavily damaged in places.
"Campbell, what's their ETA to firing range." Cooper said anxiously.
The AI's form shifted in a pattern of lines rapidly escalating in randomness, "ETA in two minutes sir, six with some maneuvering."
Cooper paused momentarily before finally speaking, "Campbell, activate Cole Protocol and give out the evacuation order, I'll buy us some time."
At his order, Campbell got to work. Soon enough all data on the ship was cut, including the location of Earth. Most of the crew ran out at the evac order, but a loyal few remained. Out from the Lone Wolf hundreds of lifeboats launched from the ship as a MAC round impacted the arrowheads at full power. The ship was hit a little to the left at an angle. The tungsten alloy rod vaporized the durasteel plating through sheer kinetic energy, only stopping when it hit the engine. The ship began to split itself apart from its acceleration, soon causing it to separate into two. The other ships learned immediately from their mistakes. Once the first was destroyed the others put up their particle shields.
"MAC round primed captain!" said one of the remaining crewmembers.
The Paris-class took another shot dropping the Imperial's weak particle shields by 87%. Another full-powered shot was taken at the encroaching Imperial forces a quarter of a minute later. It hit dropping the Imperial's shields, the round continued forward until it screeched to a stop halfway up through the ship. Steadily the arrowhead shifted back and let a stronger ship replace it. Every time he almost dropped their shields, they retreated to be replaced by the others. The Arrowheads lumbered closer and closer as the Lone Wolf found itself cornered by the dome of the ships. In about a minute he would be torn apart by fire from all sides.
The captain had little chance of survival, but there was still a way for him to do so. In any case, he could at least take down another ship or two.
"Campbell," he said as he took out a cigarette from his pocket.
"Yes, sir?"
"I want you to prime the Shivas and find a gap in their formation. Begin firing all that we have and set a detonation charge..." he said gravely,
"On it sir,"
Cooper brought the cigarette to his mouth and lit it with his lighter. Cooper coughed; it had been a while since he last smoked. His wife didn't exactly approve of it. Though he supposed it didn't matter now.
The ship began to rumble as the turbolasers began impacting it. Most of the turbolasers were missing due to the relatively long ranges that the Star Destroyers were firing at. Still with about a hundred flying about him, it was enough. As a result, the already damaged titanium A plating began breaching in parts. The cannon fire became more concentrated by the minute as they edged closer.
"Captain, range in 3, 2, 1, mark," the Ai informed.
Cooper nodded. Soon a few of the Shiva-class nuclear missiles flew out at surrounding ships and collided against their shields causing widespread EMPs throughout the surrounding ships; taking out their shields and jamming devices. The Paris Class flew past the Destroyers, maneuvering through their drifting hulls. One of them carried by its motion nailed the Lone Wolf. The engine of the ship combusted; the resulting explosion knocked Cooper off his feet. The ship's path drifted to another Star Destroyer on a full-on collision path
Cooper watched out through his window as the arrowhead approached closer, until the Lone Wolf slammed into the other ship, breaking off its tip. The detonation charge was activated. The Paris class transformed into a Slipspace explosion, instantly ripping everyone and everything apart atom by atom in a sphere of darkness. From the dust and echoes of the explosion, the remains of the ships began spiraling toward the surface as the planet's gravity pulled the ashes and dust towards the planet as the rest of the Imperial fleet flew to surround the planet.
Earth Sydney, Australia.
HIGHCOM Facility Bravo-6.
July 21st, 2561. (2122 Hours) (9:22 AM)
The footage continued with the image of the 1.6km long wedge-shaped ships descending onto the planet numbering 110 of the larger kind and 250 of the other smaller classes following them. None of them appeared familiar to the council members. The camera that had recorded the battle was the local ODP station that had just arrived using the planet's orbit. Each of the following SMAC rounds it fired took the Imperial ships down; one round had managed to destroy five at a time. But closer and closer, the Star Destroyers edged near towards the ODP. The council never got to know what happened to the station because as the nuclear blast faded and its EMP, the footage began to end as static began to overtake the video. Lord Hood bore a heavy grimace on his weary face as he viewed the footage of the battle.
About a week or so, all communication with their expeditionary Perseus Arm Colonies had simply disappeared one by one, with no explanation. The three colonies were a part of small minor attempts to scout the rest of the Milky Way. After days of silence from the colonies, a single Slipspace packet was intercepted. With it came the footage that the council had just seen.
"Do we have any confirmation over the identity of the attackers?" Hood inquired.
Osman replied, "No, all that we know is that they call themselves the 'Galactic Empire' from their broadcast over the planet,"
"Galactic Empire? You mean to tell me that they control the entire galaxy?" Hogan said,
"Or maybe they're from an entirely different one," Strauss added.
"We'll figure that out later. What we need to do now, is to send out a military response to this situation," Hood interjected.
"Right, first thing we need to do is to take back Charis," Strauss concurred.
"Once we've taken back the planet it'll give us some insight on who our enemy is," Osman remarked.
Lord Hood nodded, "I'll assign the Infinity and the Second fleet to the Perseus sector, contact the Arbiter and his people, I want to see what they think about this."
Imperial Ring structure.
July 22nd ABY 0
The surface of the ringworld was barren in the New Galaxy. It was as if some calamity struck it. The lands across the ring bore only the drab grey of dirt with stretches of ancient silver metal and a few dead trees spread out. The ground was cracked and dry in most of the terrain. In contrast with the other ring which seemed lively, full of nature, and a sense of artificial beauty. Here the ring spoke of neglect. Cold decay through the millennia. It was eerie at times for many of the Imperials.
In the week that the Empire had made the discovery, little progress was made. Whatever systems they attempted to access denied them their entrance. Coupled with a completely foreign and unknown set of symbols, made their experiments and exploration efforts more difficult than they had expected. A particular site of interest for the Empire was a facility where they had detected numerous lifeforms within, possibly the creators of whatever this ring was. If they could just access it, they could discover the secrets within.
Imperial Colony of Charis.
July 22nd ABY 1 TIME: (1823).
Trall Jokar watched over the ruined city in his Prefect's office. He was a big and beefy 43-year-old man, with hardly any neck. His combed-over hair had begun to gray in places but was for the most part black. He possessed a thick mustache that curled at the tips. Through his beady, he gazed over the working inmates. Many of them were protesters and rioters who fought against the just control of the Empire. Many of the civilians were taken to the Imperial Labor camps. Still, a good sum managed to get away due to the local resistance militia.
Trall scowled at the thought of the militia, for a bunch of primitive and slug-wielding lots they somehow managed to beat the Empire's finest. Day after day they hosted an attack on his fort, killing hundreds of the Stormtroopers stationed there. They came from everywhere, reports of trees and rocks speaking basic had spread like a flame to dry grass. Stormtroopers and officers alike lived in diligent caution as more and more reports of battles across the planet grew.
Even so, Trall was content with what he had received, feeling all so detached from the troubles of the Imperial armed forces. After the Empire discovered the new galaxy, Trall was transferred from his job as an Imperial Prefect of the Yelith mines to the Prefect of this facility. All with a nice pay increase. Trall leaned back in his chair content in watching the toiling savages work the boiling smelters. In the time that the Empire took over the planet, they had discovered several other systems. Two of them were inhabited and more heavily fortified than that of Charis. Still with the Empire's vast numbers, it was easy to subjugate them. What Trall found strange was the lack of data within the sector.
Almost all of it was wiped upon conquest. Whatever they knew was enough for them to try and hide it from them. Perhaps the key to the Ring. As the governor stretched out lazily in his chair, up in the vast darkness of space rested the Empire's fleet. On board the Tempest, the head of the battle group, stood RADM Valjek Ekan. The Admiral was observing out into space, vigilantly checking for any threats. The ship was just one of twenty ISDs. Alongside them came a pair of Arquitens-class light cruisers for each Star Destroyer.
"Sir, I'm detecting some sort of anomaly, approximately 8,000 kilometers in front of us!" One of the crew cried from the data pits.
The crewman paused, "Wait that can't be right... Sir I'm getting five, wait, thirty, what the-"
Another crewman interjected, "I've got a confirmed hundred and twenty-eight energy signatures!"
All panic set onto the crew as they scrambled to figure out the anomaly. Their answer was soon given. Outside the bridge window, Admiral Valjek could see multiple points of light erupt up ahead of him, one of them more noticeably larger than the rest. Space and time ripped for the points as they grew, and in their place lay black holes of a sort. These spheres of darkness fluctuated in waves of electric blue as sparks and arcs of light, all encapsulated in a border of light. The Admiral's heart rate began to peak as he saw what came out of the largest of the portals. Out from the portal emerged a hulking monstrosity, very easily dwarfing the Star Destroyers.
Other ships shot out from the portals, each of them sharing the same blocky and angular characteristics as the first. The crew began to squint as they started to notice a common symbol shared between the ships, some sort of bird. With unknown symbols that said UNSC. It was the same symbol of the ship they attacked about a week ago...
UNSC INFINITY
July 22nd, 2561
The sight out of the bridge's window was depressing, to say the least. Old logs of the planet had listed it with a multitude of coastal ports and cities, with ranches and farms dotting the rural landscape. In front of them was a ruined planet. Craters dotted the site, and smoke and ashes had turned the world grey and dull, far in contrast to the rich golden plains of before. The cities that were there before were now piles of melted steel and glass. There had been a few million on the planet. The thought of what had happened to them lulled Lasky into deep anger.
"Rear Admiral Cutter has established a COM line with the Imperials sir," Roland said, snapping Lasky out of his daze.
About a year ago, the UNSC had managed to find Captain Cutter, through the aid of Anders who had entered UNSC space using a Halo array. There at the Ark, they had found Cutter holding out against a faction called the Banished. Almost single-handedly he had managed to keep them at bay until greater help could arrive from the likes of the UNSC. After a long grueling campaign, the Banished were pushed out of the Ark with great difficulty. With Cutter's help, the UNSC had managed to prevent one of their most important assets from falling into Banished hands and as such promoted him to the rank of RADM.
It was the first time he had command of an entire fleet group. Cutter looked out the window of the Spirit of Fire. To the right of him, Infinity loomed over his ship. Never could he have imagined what had happened while he was gone. But that didn't matter now, it was time for him to do his job.
The signal crackled to life with a noticeable amount of distortion.
"I'm sorry if the signal is a little bad, it seems that they use a different means of communication than us," Isabel said, "Anders and I did our best, but it's an entirely alien system to us,"
Cutter nodded in acknowledgment. On the holographic table, a human appeared. He wore a grey uniform with a bar of colors and symbols, most likely his rank. His cap bore a symbol, somewhat resembling a cogwheel in a hoop. He was a young man with hardly any muscle. Cutter was surprised, he halfway expected him to be an alien of some sort.
The man began to sputter "This is Admiral Valjek of the Galactic Empire. This planet is under Imperial control. I demand that you exit this sector immediately this will be counted as an act of war aga-"
"You done talking kid?" Cutter said casually, "Do you want to know who controlled this sector before you came in?"
"Irrelevant tha-"
"Those ships you attacked, were part of the UNSC Navy, and let me tell you something: they're not exactly so happy about that."
The young admiral began visibly sweating on the hologram. Cutter could easily tell that he had spooked him.
Cutter continued, "The way I see it, you can either surrender or find out what happens when you mess with the UNSC,"
The young man paused in a moment of pure hesitation.
Suddenly the COMS line was cut.
"Sir we're seeing a massive energy spike" exclaimed one of the bridge crew.
As soon as he had said that the Imperial Fleet began to change its angle upwards. Their cannons fired at the fleet as a last-ditch attempt.
ISD Tempest.
Valjek knew the battle was over before it had even started. The best he could do was retreat and tell the others of the incoming fleet. His head would still be on the line, but it was better than being turned to rubble by the larger forces. Outside the bridge's window, the UNSC fleet had begun sinking below the Star Destroyer sightline.
"Sir their energy signatures are spiking!" burst out one of the pit crew.
"Evasive maneuve-" The admiral had partially said.
To the left and right of him, the line of Imperial ships exploded or simply tore into two. The admiral could feel each impact point as fireballs emerged throughout the other Star Destroyers. In front of them, a Star Destroyer had acted as a shield for the Tempest protecting it for the time being. Valjek felt a jolt within the ship, their energy shields had dropped to 24% from some sort of laser that had fired from 6 of the enemy ships. He was surprised he was still alive in total about 1 other Star Destroyer and a light cruiser had survived. In 5 seconds, the Imperial fleet was slag floating around aimlessly.
"Sir, hyperdrive is almost ready!" shouted one of the crew.
"Karablast! The big one's powering up again!"
All around the bridge, the crew were frantically working, as their doom inched closer until finally one of the crew cried out from his post, "Hyperdrive active!"
Valjek immediately hit the drivers as soon as they were activated. Causing the Star Destroyer to zoom past and above the UNSC fleet just as they fired. The other two ships weren't as lucky as they collided with the Infinity's MAC rounds they pierced through the ships like a hot knife through butter.
UNSC Infinity.
"Enemy forces neutralized; the fleet is starting to get some planetary UNSC radio signals,"
Lasky nodded, "Patch one through,"
Soon enough an anxious woman's voice aired through the COM channel, "This is UNSC Novgorod base, or at least the survivors. We've been holding out against the Imperial onslaught for well over a week, do you read?"
"This is Lasky of the UNSC Infinity, we're sending out evac, what's your location?"
"Transmitting coordinates now, we're by the underground subway station we'll meet you by-,"
The woman had stopped as Lasky began hearing some kids in the background.
"Sorry about that, my kids were asking me something. I was going to say that we'll rendezvous by the Západ Station on Dostoevsky Street," said the woman
"Copy that,"
On board the holo-table the figure of a valley appeared; it contained two greyish-yellow mountains bordering it. To the sides rounded baked rock formations jutted from the sides as well as several wind turbines. Golden fields stretched through the valley. In between a lush river poured past the destroyed city of Novgorod. In contrast to the rest of the valley, craters filled the sight. Solidified pools of metal and glass filled these craters. To the side of the city, a civilian cargo ship could be seen lying dead on the ground with a single blast mark on it.
On top of the city stood a sort of refinery complete with a set of blast furnaces and smoking black pipes. To the left of the city stood a series of Imperial fortresses, each one angular in its design. The table also showed the tunnels that ran beneath the ruins. A labyrinth of concrete and steel.
"Lieutenant Murphy began deployment to this area, I think these people have suffered enough, I want all our Pelicans and men down there," Lasky commanded
"Got it sir,"
UNSC Novgorod Base.
The actual base itself was destroyed by the turbolasers that pounded away at the surface. What survived were the subway tunnels which the Imperial resistance group took solace in. Their command center was the Tsentralnaya subway station below the city which had a small cafe situated in the middle which made it a prime choice for the survivors. Despite that, the food began to run out, and it was only a matter of time before they starved to death.
Sargeant William Caulfield looked back at the fading red emergency lights of the subway. He was one of the ODSTs onboard the Lone Wolf, the moment he landed he scoured the city for survivors and his family. There he found them and others. Over the past few days, he had been running raids against the invasion force, until they managed to trace them down to the Subway systems, causing them to hole up.
His armor was completely black and adorned with a black scarf. His armor was heavily modified with multiple attachments to his helmets and a knife on his shoulder. Underneath his helmet, his face was angular in shape with some stubble on his chin. He had deep-set hazel eyes with dark circles underneath. His hair was unruly and was soft black.
About 44 UNSC personnel and 73 civilians traveled in a tight group, with the military members at the front. Caulfield gripped his M7S SMG tightly. To say he was worried was an understatement, there was always the chance that they might run into those plastic soldiers. The whole situation seemed lousy.
A lady walked up to him, his wife Ashley, who wore a simple lightish red dress. Ashley had an oval-shaped face with amber roundish-almond eyes that had a sense of optimism to them. Her hair was a light golden color and was about chin length with side bangs that curled forward in a fluffy-looking way.
"How long do you think it'll take us to reach the Západ station?" She asked.
Will turned towards her and took off his helmet. The dank musky scent of the tunnels hit him in full force, "I take it about twentyish minutes, how are the kids doing?"
"Andrew and Mari? They're doing fine considering. I had Ed take care of them by the Warthogs."
Will nodded. After a long walk of silence, the ceiling of the tunnel began rumbling. Thunderous booms echoed above ground. Muffled sounds of the crack of gunfire and high-pitched whoosh of blaster fire echoed throughout the dark tunnel.
Ahead of them, the light grew and as they neared it the sound of the battle increased. Once they got close enough Will began to see something. Ahead of them were Imperial soldiers who were clad in white armor. They seemed to be holding out from gunfire above, likely an attempt to dominate the subway system. Will put on his helmet immediately, his visor polarized to a reflective red instantly as he did so.
There were about 60 of those plastic soldiers give or take. They outnumbered Will, but they had an advantage: they had no idea they were there.
Will motioned for a M319 Grenade Launcher. One of his men brought it and about 4 shots which was all they had. Will cracked open the 'Nade launcher and slid the grey dull tube into it, snapping it shut as he prepared to fire. The bright orange glow filled the tunnel as it landed with a thud in front of the bewildered Stormtroopers. It lay there not exploding like they thought it was. But as the others came around it detonated. The resulting shut off the red emergency lights as the swift cracks and booms of the UNSC pierced the Stormtrooper's armor in as little as three shots.
Will saw everything in clear clarity through his night vision. Random panicked shots of red flew into the ceiling, one even hitting another Stormtrooper. Will's hand guided the BR75 with utmost precision as he shredded through the Stormtroopers with the BR's M634 HP-SAP rounds. Each round chipped away at their Plastoid armor, cracking more and more until it pierced through shattering it completely.
By the time Will turned on his flashlight the walls were painted red and a mix of shattered armor fragments. Several marines came down from the above ground.
"Is this all of Novgorod?" asked one of them, almost sadly surprised.
Will nodded.
"Jesus..." muttered the marine, "We'll lead you to Pelicans, come on," he said as he motioned them over up the stairs.
As Will stepped out of the dark tunnel onto the night sky, he saw that hundreds of marines surrounded the place with many dead bodies of the invaders lying on pools of blood on the concrete. But most notably in the pitch-black sky, hundreds of those Arrowhead ships brawled with the UNSC's fleet of a hundred. FS/A-41B Sabres which were essentially Broadswords that implemented past tech and designs, quarreled with the TIE Fighters as streaks of green laser fire and orange tracer rounds traded between the two. In the distance, multiple giant four-legged machines resembling camels crossed the battlefield as multiple Scorpions fired their cannons. Each round ricocheted off the Durasteel plating.
Red blaster fire and yellow tracer rounds flew between the two forces. Olive-clad marines fired at the overwhelming Imperial forces as they pushed on, their white-clad dropping like flies. Around them swarms of SOEIV's dropped near the Imperial lines surprising the Stormtroopers, a few of the pods crushing the Imperials. The ODST popped out and eliminated the Imperials swiftly, ducking quickly to cover. Above Caulfield several Slipspace portals appeared, their dark voids spitting out violet and sleek alien ships one after another. In a few moments, several Scarabs fell onto the planet, each with the symbol of the Swords of Sanghelios.
Stormtroopers looked in awe at Beatle-legged machines as the Imperial AT-ATs pushed forward to counter the Scarabs, while the UNSC forces cheered. Warthogs and Imperial Speeders raced through the blackened dirt. Hundreds of UH-144 Falcons and several D77-TC Pelicans dodged green and red cannons from the Imperial forces as they flew forward.
All around the fighting took place everywhere, the Imperial fortresses, the blackened golden plains, and the cratered ruins of Novgorod. It was clear the Battle for Charis had only begun.