The UNSC Infinity had departed with an escort force for the target area reported by the Grand Army's command. It'd been some time since the allied fleets had met over Christophsis and fought together against the Confederates, delivering the young huttlet to his father. Once more sat alone in her room, Meetra watched the familiar vortex of the UNSC's own FTL swirling around the ship.
She hummed and moved to her desk, activating the holographic display and starting to write away in her journal. She didn't censor anything much about her thoughts, since she really had nothing to censor, to hide from her allies. Not for the time being, anyhow. ONI had also reduced the taps and microphones hidden in the room to half the usual detail and, for the most part, they were off.
She hummed and wrote about the previous day of transit, the kind of stuff she did, Doctor Halsey's little checkups and her tests. She really liked the doctor. Old woman reminded her a bit of Kreia, back when Kreia had still been alive, training her again after she lost the Force. She had lost the Force for a good reason, she thought, however, but she didn't write it out.
The UNSC's views on her had remained decently warm and the feeling was mutual, considering the fact the Marines only catcalled a couple times, heh. She donned her PT training gear, then stepped out toward the gym, covered by her robes. Part of her wondered calmly where their next trip would take them, but the order was for them to hunt something or other, if she'd read the briefings correctly.
Some new big CIS vessel was making the rounds, as far as she heard. They were gonna take it down, ship-to-ship, if the UNSC could help do so. Right now, though, they were expecting target confirmation from the Jedi fleets, hence the UNSC vessels being on alert. Entering the gym, she found the place unusually calm despite the order for half a fleet of forty-odd alien warships to prepare for battle.
There was, however, an underlying tension. The air was just that bit heavier as she felt it, most of the crew present being assistants to various major parts of the ship's function, training and passing the time with chatter to relieve some of the stress. Gunlayers, gunners, assistant loaders in case the guns' ammunition trolleys jammed, cleaners and the personnel occupied with assisting in case of any kind of failure in the feed systems other than the trolleys.
There were now two shifts operating, the day and night shifts. This was the Night Shift, taking a well-earned rest. Spartan units had also been deployed across the fold of the ship's naval forces, all of Gypsy Company's squads providing enhanced security detail against possible boarding droids and the likes. Some of the personnel that joined were Marines now.
She hummed and started doing reps while still listening to the conversations. Some men and women spoke of the deployment of the Fleet's multitude of 'Prowlers', what she recalled were Spy and Intelligence Stealth Ships utilized by the UNSC to their fullest extent during the Human-Covenant War. They could've been gathering intel already, for all she knew. Apparently, some of the men here were friends with the Office of Naval Intelligence's staff operating aboard those Special Warfare Ships.
After her training, the young woman walked onto the bridge once more, simply sitting in the back and watching as the crew on the deck went about their usual business, the AIs aboard discussing matters together pertaining to the angle they were going to go in at, the possible contact with CIS troops and vessels, the escort fleet of this new enemy warship. It was tantamount to listening to briefings back in the day, when Revan, her and Malak still ran things.
She looked over to the left as a door opened and saw Commander Palmer. Palmer herself, to her credit, saluted and said, "General," causing Meetra to snort. The blonde saluted back, then nodded the Commander at ease. Palmer then asked, "Take it Admiral Lasky's still asleep... Understandable, I guess. Trip's still gonna take a while to complete... How're you faring aboard?"
"I'm good, Commander," Meetra nodded, "Thanks for asking."
"Hey, we're all on the same boat, ma'am," Palmer shrugged, "Pays to be nice. Still surprised ONI's letting you walk around free."
"I got an escorting Spartan from your ranks from the get-go, remember?" She snorted, rubbing the back of her neck. Palmer chuckled and nodded. Meetra then added, "And, honestly, I understand the apprehension. Especially as someone who probably uses what's tantamount to magic to you people to fight her battles. That and my Lightsaber, which is eerily similar to the Elites' Energy Swords."
Palmer nodded, replying, "You'd be surprised how scary we find both, heh."
"Well, I'll keep my blade pointed at the droids, if that's alright with you."
"Fine by me, ma'am."
"Just Meetra," The girl quipped, then noted the confusion in Palmer's gaze, which she found sort of adorable. As adorable as an old woman would find a young one's confusion on matters like that. She clarified, "Call me Meetra, commander. I'm not that fond of either the title of General, or that of Master anymore... I'm just a citizen fighting to assist the Republic and to learn more of our new allies..."
"Understood, gen-..." Palmer cut herself off, then hummed and said, "Meetra..." tasting the familiarity of using the girl's first name. She told her, "You can call me Sarah if you want."
Meetra smiled, "I'd love to call everyone by first names, but there's some degree of respect... Maybe when we're all off-duty, aye?"
"Aye," Sarah nodded, then gave a light tap to the General and said, "I'll go check in with Roland and see how far out we are. Been a pleasure, Meetra..." then stopped midway through leaving and snorted, "I'll call you Ma'am and 'General' during combat and duty hours, too, then, if that's alright... See you," And she waved, stepping off to the holographic table.
"Making friends?" A voice familiar to the woman sent a chill up her spine. She nearly yelped and jumped out of her skin, turning to face the source and seeing the Lieutenant, helmet slung under his arm. He walked up beside her and looked around the Bridge, before stating, "Commander Palmer's a bit of a hardass, but I can respect her choices... She still gets mocked for saying she expected the Chief 'would be taller' when they first met."
Meetra snorted, "She did that?"
Six nodded, "She'll admit to it being a stupid thing to say, but she was apparently excited to meet the Spartan that pretty much saved humanity... Which is strange for an ODST..." Then he and Meetra started walking together. He looked upon the young woman that was supposedly four millennia old and asked her, "So, how is it?" only to see the confusion. He clarified quickly, "Being millennia old. Witnessing history being made. That type of thing."
Meetra's usual smile seemed to strain a bit, her demeanor a hint more solemn now than it was before as memories of the past seemed to resurface. She rubbed her arm and started, "I wish I'd..." before snapping out of it and shaking her head. No, no, no thoughts like that. If she gave up right now, she would just become like something she destroyed long ago, something she did not want to become like. The Spartan noticed this, his curiosity piqued. She told him, "It's hard. Knowing that any and every person I will ever meet, I will outlive... It's more of a curse after the first person you've known dies."
"... I'm sorry," Six frowned, "I didn't mean to bring up bad memories."
She gave him a half-smile and told him, "It's fine. I understand the curiosity... Nice to see what's supposed to be a deadly superhuman weapon showing friendly behavior," She then quipped and looked forward again. Six rolled his eyes as they kept up the walk toward the turbolift, only for the girl to hit the button, the car rolling down the rails it was designed to move on.
"At least I'm trying to be friendly," He shot back as they disembarked, "I heard we're going to be engaging in an orbital fight..."
"That's what I've heard, too," The girl nodded, "The CIS Warship Malevolence, some new design of dreadnought for them, is the prey... Well, as you can guess, I hope she's the prey. It wouldn't be any fun for us to be prey ourselves to her..." and paused for a moment to ponder the fact they were about to be part of what would probably be the greatest naval engagement in the Galaxy's recent history and of the war up to this point.
Six was about to reply when the PA of the ship kicked in with a shrill screech. Admiral Lasky called out, "All crew, this is Admiral Lasky. We've lost contact with the Jedi fleet deployed within the system, presumed due to engagement with the enemy vessel and her escorting fleet. We are entering Yellow Alert. All crew, to their stations. I repeat, all crew, to their stations, yellow alert. ETA to System is ten minutes."
"Well..." Sighed Six, "Guess we'll see you around. I have to go to my assigned bulkhead..." And he gave the girl a quick salute. With an awkward smile and a wave, the girl nodded. She then took the elevator back to the bridge. Arriving on-deck, the woman snapped a salute to the Admiral as she joined the crew. She saw the staff already at their stations, the muffled wails of the sirens echoing and the gold lights flashing around her.
"Welcome, general Surik," The man nodded. The tension on the bridge was so thick one could cut it with a knife, "Master Plo Koon's fleet is set to meet us in the system. The first General sent in the area barely managed to send a mayday out before his fleet got destroyed, so this probably means the enemy's there in force..."
"Taking care of their new battleship, yes," Meetra hummed. An oppressive feeling hit her, like the Force was warning her. She tensed visibly, causing the Admiral a hint of consternation. He cut sideways with his right hand toward one of the crew, someone she couldn't make out the rank or occupation of. The Jedi closed her eyes and utilized the Force to see if she can feel the ebbing tides of fate, tell how the battle would go.
She did not manage to, sadly. Not before the call came through from the Admiral. The whirlwind of Slipspace dissolved into realspace, the eerie, dim glow of a stellar body bathing the fleets in crimson. Roland reported, "Detecting Jedi fleet Debris in the AO, multiple in fact. No beacons or Maydays emanating, no life signs... Stand by, we got a contact on scopes. Low orbit near the star."
Abregado, the system of a dull red star and home to Abregado Rae, was to become the site of the next great naval war. Lasky ordered, "Deploy squadrons and prepare to engage the enemy fleet..." as the holographic table flared to life, displaying a system-wide map with the positions of the allied fleets. The man then radioed in, "General Plo Koon, this is the Infinity. Sensors detected the enemy vessel and her escorts..."
As the figure of the Jedi appeared next to the holographic table, Meetra quickly camouflaged herself from his point of view, keen to watch the battle unfold for the moment, seeing as she didn't have much to do. The voices of the two fleet officers faded to the back as she watched the fleet dispositions change. Around them, the combined UNSC-Republic fleet took a battle formation, the front line with UNSC and Jedi cruisers at the tip of the spear.
"Enemy fleet has spotted us, confirmed. Supporting ships are vectoring to counter," Roland reported, "Issuing Red Alert order as per Admiral's request. All ships, prepare for battle..."
The first slew of squadrons, Longswords and Broadswords, had taken off into the void between the two fleets. Whereas the UNSC and the Republic had a combined 20 ships, the enemy had only ten with their massive new vessel. The UNSC Fleet needed to get in range, much like the enemy's ships, in order to fire their main weaponry without the risk of the enemy dodging their shots or shooting their missiles down. They'd left some of the ships back at the Docks for repair and refit, obviously, while others hanged around in Slipspace.
Meetra stared at the disposition of forces, then looked out at the shadows that lay against the scarlet star of the system. Even the enemy battleship, a vessel with an open maw like that of a preying sea hunter, turned to close the distance. Crews called out positions, targeting sequence percentages and the likes. One crewman on sensors called out, "Enemy fighters have been deployed! Counting a hundred strike squadrons!"
Decent numbers for a droid force, Meetra thought as she watched the distance between the two fleets close. The enemy's own ships had taken a battle formation that pitted the battleship at the back, while a retrofitted Lucrehulk led as the tip of the spear. The tension on board the vessel was oppressive as the group eyed the enemy's warships and they definitely glared back at them.
... Aboard the Malevolence, a sole figure stood. Clad in a cape that covered most of the skeletal cyborg frame he was confined to due to past injuries, one of the CIS's greatest generals glared at the enemy fleet, catlike eyes peering through the bridge's vision ports at them. His voice was rough, harsh and low. A short, quiet cough escaped his speaker system, before he turned to the crew and ordered with an eerie calm, "Maintain approach and remember the reports from Christophsis. Prepare all batteries to fire and initiate charging procedures for the Ion Cannon... The Malevolence's first real test has begun," golden eyes glimmering in the scarlet light bouncing from the sun behind them.
The elusive figure was General Grievous, a hunchback cyborg born out of a species that had died some decades ago by the hands of the Jedi. His mask, resembling the face of an angry animal, forever locked his gaze into a frown that was accentuated by his auburn eyes and slit pupils. He was cunning, vile and short-tempered at times, but he had little reason to be so now, for he had a million tonnes of Confederate steel at his disposal, armed with the best weapons that the CIS could muster, under his command.
He told them, "Ensure that the support elements within the Debris field are ready to engage our friends..." as he eyed the distance. A droid replied his affirmative while a holo-display flared with data. Distant explosions flared as the two fleets' fighter complements engaged each-other. Clone Torrent fighters and these new enemies' craft engaged in a furball in the middle as the two fleets closed distance, entering the debris fields of the Jedi fleet that arrived prior. He then ordered, "Bring us to broadside, shunt power to charge the cannons and tell the Sanctimonious Donation to move out of the way... We shall have our First Strike."
Both officers of the fleet glared at each-other's vessels as the ranges ticked down. More and more, the human and Clone crews tensed, while the Droids had gone silent on the ships. The Lucrehulk shifted its flight path, at first further obscuring the Malevolence, much to Lasky's chagrin. Roland called out, "Sir, we're in effective firing range. On your mark."
"Fire at will. We'll take the enemy's flagship out with a second volley," The man nodded.
... "Fire!" Grievous ordered as their path cleared...
And the void was set alight...
Scarlet plasma bolts traced criss-crossing patterns in the void as white flashes came from the bows of the UNSC vessels. Ferromagnetic slugs lanced out from the bows of the UNSC vessels and, in a devious reply from the Malevolence, a halo of crackling electricity shot out of one of the two ion pulse cannons on the side. Interlacing shots met, missiles launching from the tubes of the UNSC warships and narrowly avoiding the EM shot.
First to get caught in the blast were the first few UNSC and Droid squadrons, the EM Pulses disabling them, leaving the furball dead in the water as the ion blast pushed forth. Lasky's eyes shot wide open, as did Meetra's. She was about to call out for them to avoid the ion pulse, but Lasky was way ahead of her, yelling over fleetwide coms, "All ships, brace for impact! Shunt power and maximize shield output, NOW!"
The attack pushed on regardless, even as turbolaser and cannon shots were exchanged between the fleets. It first made contact with the leading ships of the fleet, electricity arcing into the energy shielding of the UNSC and Jedi Cruisers, leaving the latter disabled, while the former's coms echoed, though not with maydays. The captains seemed annoyed at the hit.
Finally, the massive blast crossed the Infinity, sparking off the shield blanket and glowing a burning crimson as energy met energy. Weakened by first contact with the fleet's vanguard, the blast exploded outward, reverberating across the dreadnought's hull and deactivating the energy shields. Roland called out, "Admiral! Our shields are down! Enemy must've fired some sort of high-intensity EM Blast at us! All other systems nominal but the shields are rebooting!"
"It was an Ion shot!" Meetra gritted her teeth. She pointed to the Jedi Cruisers whose engines flickered and said, "They managed to disable master Plo Koon's three Venators..."
Lasky frowned, then barked, "Push us through and drop rescue boats, give cover while the Jedi are getting their ships back in order! Roland, fleetwide order, Assault Plan Charlie!" as he straightened up. The hull of the UNSC vessel began to groan as the turbolaser shots made contact. Geysers of fire erupted on the bows of a couple of the UNSC's ships, scarlet shots flashing past the bridge of the command vessel. Lasky glared at the enemy fleet's flagship, then ordered, "Groups of three or four vessels! Divide up, maintain spacing between groups and engage enemies one ship at a time! We're charging the Malevolence!"
Close the distance and mingle with the enemy's fleet to survive and sow confusion. If the hostile commander cared enough, maybe he wouldn't fire that weapon again. Or, if they were lucky, it'd take time to charge. Time in which the Infinity or an allied ship could scour it with a MAC. He reactivated the hologram table and looked at the sensor displays, noting that their Alpha Strike had done damage, too.
The Lucrehulk Sanctimonious Donation had lost one of the main propulsion systems on its back as it had cleared a path for the Malevolence's first shot, courtesy of the Infinity's four MACs firing simultaneously. Various other escorting vessels had lost chunks of hull and weaponry courtesy of the missiles and guns of the UNSC, with a Frigate flying almost dead in the water.
Meetra braced as she felt the ship's pulse drive kick into gear. The UNSC's other ships followed in, Frigates, Destroyers and Cruisers entering diamond formations of four ships each, with the Infinity receiving guard from the 10 Frigates she now dropped from her belly. Strident-class Frigates and and a couple of Anlaces formed up with the INF. Bolts of plasma scored glancing hits and came to near-misses, while UNSC CIWS systems finally opened up, 50mm Coilguns, shorter-range missile pods and even the Anlaces' DEWs firing.
"Shields will be back online in one mike!" Roland reported, "Entering secondary range!"
"Fire at will! Prep Nukes!" Lasky barked.
Meetra suggested, "We should aim for the ion cannons! If we can disable those, we can cripple the ship!"
"Relay that to the rest of the fleet! Target the Ion Cannon bulges on the sides of the ship! Fire MACs, Nukes, anything you can slip through!" Lasky bellowed as tracers danced across the viewports. The forward hull shields closed over the bridge's windows and switched over to external view cameras as the enemy's turbolaser batteries started returning fire.
On the Malevolence, Grievous ordered, "Prepare another Ion Pulse. Aim for their flagship..." as he started at the UNSC warship bow-to-bow with his own vessel, its missile pods and kinetic machine cannons answering the CIS Capital ship's turbolasers, blasters and other heavy weapons. The enemy's fleet seemed to have split into groups, the frigates dropped from the ship's belly focusing on engaging Malevolence's escorts. The General then said, "Call up escort Frigates two and three, tell them to stay close... Perhaps we can use them as armor should they fire another kinetic volley."
Five groups of four UNSC ships each engaged the enemy's escorts. Cruiser MAC guns fired, drilling holes into the plate armor of the enemy ships while plasma struck back. Heikkala's cruiser had taken a lot of fire, its hull ablaze in several places, but the old girl still flew, firing at the enemy everything from gun to missile. Heikkala barked orders in Finnish and English, a crazy look in her eyes as the vessel dived into the enemy's lines alongside her escorting frigates.
The second wave of fighters and bombers had also launched while Pelicans and Tugboats provided SAR for the various craft left disabled in the former furball, dragging them toward the rebooting Jedi Cruisers, from aboard which Master Plo watched the ongoing engagement with muted awe. He spoke, "Quite an incredible sight... They engaged the enemy up close."
"Probably figured it'd be better to divvy up their forces, sir. Make it less likely for the enemy ship's Ion pulsers to knock them out of the fight," His officer suggested, looking up at the alien being with a black mask, orange skin and a strangely-shaped head. Plo nodded, while the Clone said, "We're nearly at 100% again, sir. Should be able to join Admiral Lasky's strike soon."
"Let's hope we can provide at least some support," The man nodded. "Contact the Order when our coms are back online. Tell them to deploy reinforcements..."
"Sir! Look!" Another Clone Navy ensign pointed out at the fleets.
In a true mess of orbital warfare, the UNSC warships seemed to be holding their own even as their shields slowly recharged. A Frigate whose PD array seemed to also be rebooting after several hits to their guns swiveled about, utilizing her directional thrusters to aim at the enemy Flagship. When the CIS Frigates at its side noticed this, one redirected, swiveling about and utilizing its own thrusters to align itself. The twin turbolaser in its maw opened fire on the UNSC ship, glancing hits that boiled thin layers of plate armor away.
The Frigate's MAC flared in the night. Half-charge, the shot punched through the maw of the enemy Frigate, disabling one of the two barrels of the Turbolaser and damn-near breaking the tower which held the bridge amidships. The winged CIS vessel started spewing Fighters now, a dozen Vulture droids sweeping forth toward the frigate, escorting Hyena bombers.
Bolts of plasma and torpedoes roared toward the vessel... Just as its golden blanket of energy winked back to life. They impacted, causing the shields to flare. The Frigate, the UNSC Only Easy Day, had its PD mounts reboot. 50mm coilgun-launched explosive fuzed ammunition cracked the cold void and caught the Vultures by surprise as the CIS Frigate closed distance with them.
Return fire came in the form of the Droid warship's smaller laser batteries. Volleys of energy fire impacted the shielded vessel, causing its energy protection to flare once more. It flashed, flared and died, bolts of energy cutting into the hull of the Frigate now. Missiles lanced out in reply, followed by another MAC shot that hit the bridge of the CIS ship and tumbled inward, deeper into the hull. The CIS frigate now floated dead in the water, while the UNSC's still flew, though it had many more marks of the battle on its hull.
The Infinity's own shields powered back on as it aimed its weapons at the enemy vessel. Head-to-head, Commander and Ship were once more about to test their mettle. Super MAC rounds roared out of the barrels of the Flagship, while the Malevolence attempted to turn on its axis to present a broadside as its main cannon was charging. Grievous, however, took a moment aboard his flagship to consider this.
With a huff, the half-machine, half-man ordered, "All ships are to converge and provide us a corridor out! We are not losing the Malevolence to a situation that has become tenuous..." only to hear the audible confirmations from his droids. He stepped down to the command deck, then said, "We've tested the ship's weapons... And we need to learn to adjust for the enemy's shields."
Heikkala's cruiser moved at full power toward the enemy ship, aiming one of its nuclear warheads at the ion cannons as more energy weapon fire poured down on her. They'd regained and lost their shields five times at this point and it was getting annoying, so Heikkala decided on the best course of action. She radioed, "This is Captain Heikkala. We're firing one of our nukes at the enemy ship... The bastards are trying to pull out, so we'll leave'em a parting gift! Get us close and hit the bastard, now!"
They watched the ship try and peel off, its support fleet taking fire from all sides, MACs pouring down on their comrades and, finally, turbolasers of a blue tint from the Republic Navy's ships as they flew in. Plo transmitted, "Apologies for the tardiness, Admiral. We're on our way in now-" only to blink as they gazed upon a sole missile leaving the UNSC warship's tube amidst the continuous crossfire.
It banked toward the enemy vessel, dodging all the focused point-defense batteries, all the Vulture droids and all else, only for it to strike. A blinding flash covered a good chunk of the enemy ship's side, a shockwave causing the entire fleet to shudder even here, in the void, where it could be somewhat omnidirectional. The detonation sent a more internalzied shockwave through the Malevolence, a droid calling out, "We've sustained damage to the Ion cannon!"
"How severe?" Grievous demanded, his voice low.
"Batteries inoperable, sir!" The Droid replied, "Residual radiation confirmed!"
"Get us out of this furball faster so we can repair!" Grievous barked back, angry. He looked upon the enemy fleet and stated, "Next time..."
... Before long, the extent of the damage had made itself clear. A cratering wound was left where one of the twin Ion batteries had been. Fires burned and radiation emanated from the gash, vaporized hull giving way to the inner workings of the war machine. The Malevolence's engines burned now, brighter than ever as its escort fleet took heavy fire to the cheers of the shipboard crews of their enemy.
Lasky ordered, "Bring us about and pursue them!" to the helmsman, "All ships, this is Infinity! We're pursuing the enemy!"
Meetra, though awed at the UNSC's display of force, nodded and said, "I'll take a fighter out there when we intercept them, too... Best for all of us to participate..." before turning and departing from the bridge. The UNSC had just won an engagement the likes of which could truly determine the fate of the early stages of a war. A crippled enemy ship limped away, while its escorting fleet had been torn to shreds. The UNSC had lost crew and ships had been severely damaged in this engagement, too, but they had done it...
If anything, it reinforced beliefs...
They were worth investing herself into...