The eleven ships of the Jackal pirate fleet was abruptly thrown from slipspace above an asteroid field. Witnessing a battle like none of the humans or Jackals had seen combat this severe hundreds of ships none of them recognized were firing missiles and guns into each other as small odd shaped fighters danced around them swatting one another from the sky.
As Mathew Reading watched from the Bridge of the Diligence class destroyer the Jackals had taken to calling Chiss-teh according to the primitive translator he had been given to better follow orders said was a Kig Yar knife Mathew prefered the Original name of the ship Hawaii which was found on a physical locker since the ships previous captain had initiated the Cole Protocol and wiped the ship's computer and AI. The crew had suffocated before they could arm the self-destruct when a Covenant energy projector cut the ship from stem to stern breaching every compartment.
It looked like the ship users of the blunt skeletal ribbed looking ships were trying to defend the planet from the weird double Y shaped ships.
And they were losing the double Y shaped ships and their weird fighters were using almost exclusively nukes as he watched the battlefield dozens of ships were going up in radioactive death.
As he watched the distant fight a blinding light appeared and a Double Y shaped ship appeared right on top of them and started launching their weird fighters and slow missiles the humans manning the bridge without waiting acted simultaneously activating various Rampart defense guns and pulse laser turrets decimating the incoming ordnance and then shifting to the agile fighters as the heavier Sentry and Caster coil guns turned their attention to the ship itself followed by the plasma cannons and torpedoes of the rest of the fleet the super heated plasma burning the ship before it split in half and exploded as the plasma found something explosive.
The enemy ship destroyed all weapons locked on the remaining fighters. A firing solution came up on the Hawaii's Archer station and Mathew hit the confirmation Archer pod A1 through A4 opened and spewed its complement of thirty six missiles the Archers flew out and impacted the fighters blowing them apart.
The pirate ships sat there in the asteroid field hidden among the shattered remains of the double Y ship and watched as the fighting died down and turned into a clean up as the few remaining skeletal ships were hunted down and killed.
The humans watched in horror as the several dozen surviving double Y ships took up position above the planet and started their bombardment.
The Jackals eyed the massive swaths of destroyed ships with greed waiting for the strange ships to leave so they could plunder the wreckage.
Mathew looked at the eight Jackals on the bridge and the fourteen humans tapping his shoe to draw the attention of the other humans he blinked hard and looked at the transfixed Jackals they nodded one by one.
They dogpiled the aliens burying them under human bodies as desperate hands ripped weapons from their hands and used them as clubs to keep it quiet, beating them to death.
Mathew hefted his blue blood covered Carbine and looked to the others. "Eight down what? A hundred more to go? Piece of cake." drawing chuckles from the others locking the ship down under a code he led the thirteen others out of the bridge.
As Mathew peeked around a corner he saw a small group of other slaves under the watchful eyes of a Jackal with a M7 smg. Just as he was watching, a grunt lifted his head to adjust his breathing harness and locked eyes with Mathew. His eyes widen as the grunt sees the carbine in Mathews hands.
Mathew holds up a finger to his mouth knowing the grunts understood some human signs. The grunt looks between Matthew and the Jackal and nods looking down again.
Mathew takes the DMR from the man behind him and ejects a round before handing it back. Peaking again he tosses the bullet against the wall drawing the Jackals attention. Mathew hears the slow clacks of the jackals steps approaching the bullet and just as the jackal steps pass Mathew locks the alien in a choke hold helped by the others they break its neck.
They manage the same tactic three more times before a Jackal comes out of a lift as they snap another pirate's neck and alarms begin the blare. The grunt from earlier along with three of his buddys pile onto the Jackal before one of them uses its methane rig to suffocate the struggling alien. With a nod they continue spreading throughout the ship.
With their cover blown and no need to be quiet they shot every jackal on sight. Throughout the ship, gangs of slaves rushed their jackal handlers, beating and choking them to death. In less than ten minutes the last Jackal was killed, the ship was theirs.
Mathew deciding to press his luck had the only thirty marines among the hundred humans aboard donn their EVA and battle armor the jackals had never gotten rid of from the equipment lockers. Looking at the Paris Class frigate Rushmore sitting stationary just two hundred feet away.
The Marines armed with M7s and M6Cs from the armory jumped.
Over the next hour as the ships fell silently grunts and humans worked together for the first time in their history to slaughter the Jackals. However, they were out of time.
The double Ys finished their bombardment or ran out of nukes, but they departed the radioactive wasteland that was the world. As the last ship disappeared in a flash the Hawaii, Rushmore and the Charon Hyena were under their control and the next boarding party was getting ready to jump for the Colossus.
When Tau'cha aboard the CPD corvette Wandering Justice ordered all ships to move forward to search the wrecks and the planet knowing they can't pretend any longer opened fire at the same time activating the ships slipspace drives a flurry of Archer missiles coil gun rounds and plasma lashed out as the three ships Jumped the CPV's launched reinforcements to the Jackal crews on the remaining ships before pursuing them with the freighter following them.
The remaining three ships moved forward towards the planet.
Corporal Roger Sands felt annoyed but hopeful that Commander Reading would be back. Or he would have to find a way to fight back the same way.
The small three ship flotilla orbited the nuclear wasteland of a planet three times looking for anything that hadn't been hit. Aside from a few small towns or villages there wasn't much the Jackal in command slapped the back of Rogers head hissing and squawking the translator spoke "Human Wrecks Take Nothing Here"
With a few choice muttering he had figured out the translator didn't know he typed into the computer the best course he could. His sister had shown him when they visited she was the navigational officer for the frigate Forward Unto Dawn assigned to Earth's stripped down defense fleet.
Sands smiled remembering the boasting that had followed when he told his squadmated he could pilot a frigate. As they finished their last orbit they caught sight of something… a destroyer…but not Hawaii. Its identification popped up a moment later UNSC Midway DDG-103.
A light started flashing and the text appeared
UNSC Midway Hailing UNSC Colossus
The Alien pointed his plasma rifle at Roger and squeaked "Answer"
Fixing the ill fitting navy uniform to look more presentable he answered seeing the face of a man wearing the insignia of a Captain
"This is Commander Robert hills of the Colossus." he greeted blinking a code he knew the translator couldn't detect Jackal Pirates Covie mods ships aliens 200 prisoners 50