Ascendance: Rise of Humanity

by StarKing28

WHAT IF the Human-Covenant happened more differently? WHAT IF Humanity were more prepared in the Great War against the Covenant? WHAT IF the UNSC employed vastly different tactics to fight against the Covenant? WHAT IF ONI were not cartoonish evil or incompetent and actually doing their job to improve Humanity's chances of survival against the Covenant? Let us find out here!

ASCENDANCE: RISE OF HUMANITY

Chapter 1: Not Another Tuesday

Disclaimer for Each Chapter:

All property related to HALO belongs to 343 Industries. If I had owned HALO, I would sure as hell NOT RUINED HALO with bad story, like what 343 is doing now. I am writing this because of my hobby and passion only, NOT for profit.

This is a work of complete otherwise indicated, all the names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents in this book are either the product of the Author's imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

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Author's Foreword:

This section is nothing special really, just some of my reasonable (or unreasonable, depends on who you ask) ramblings regarding the Lore of HALO Universe in general.

HALO is not only my favorite sci-fi universe but also an important part of my life. However, there are many lore details that I find very strange and unreasonable, especially regarding the history and worldbuilding aspects. I haven't read any books but simply browsed through the Wiki and other sources for important lore details. Therefore, I could be wrong in some regards but I still stand my ground. As for the specific instances, I will tackle them once I reach them along the way.

Crucial Warning to Readers:

This is an important heads-up for anyone, especially HALO fans, who is about to read this series. The overall story follows the main timeline of the original HALO universe but it contains many, many Lore Changes due to the addition of certain technologies, strategies, characters, and combat doctrines.

Additionally, this story will be told mostly from the perspective of Humanity so you might not like it (If you enjoy seeing the Covenant stomping Humanity all the time that is). Therefore, if you dislike massive changes to the Lore, I highly recommend you avoid reading this series.

If you are still here, then let us dive into the story!

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Command Bridge of the CMA Boring Villager – An Able-class Heavy Destroyer

Space Region: High Orbit of Harvest – 0.85 Light-Seconds from the Planet's Surface

Star System: Epsilon Indi

Calendar: February 3, 2525

Rear Admiral (Lower Half) Besart Fankhauser surveyed the holographic display of Harvest Defense Fleet on the central holo-table with some degree of anxiety and dread. Currently, the fleet was patrolling the orbits of Harvest and Barrows – the third planet of Epsilon Indi – where the system's only shipyard and its relevant facilities were located.

All around them, hundreds of Gladius Fighters and Baracuda Fighter Drones flew in perfect formations as they patrolled the warships' flanks and blind spots of their motherships and the space stations around Harvest. Every now and then, a pair of Baracuda Drones flew past the bridge's observation windows as the command staff chatted with each other.

Around three months ago, Harvest Colonial Military Administration received detailed reports of four missing civilian freighters in the system's outermost regions. At first, Harvest Command thought that they were the results of Insurrectionist groups which survived the UNSC's cleansing in the Outer Colonies two years ago.

Lieutenant Commander Jilan Al-Cygni who was dispatched by the Office of Naval Intelligence to Epsilon Indi to investigate these incidents suggested springing a trap to CMA Command and Governor Nils Thune in order to identify the threat and if possible, eliminate it as soon as possible.

The operation was going smoothly until the attackers revealed themselves.

An alien vessel of unknown design and origins exited Slipspace near the Bulk Discount, disabled the bait freighter's laser defense systems, and conducted boarding action on the vulnerable ship. To the surprise and horror of everyone on the bait freighter, the boarders were hostile alien creatures equipped with advanced directed energy weapons and energy shields.

Once the effects of shock and awe wore off, the CMA and UNSC Marine platoons on the Bulk Discount quickly engaged in an intense close quarter battle with the alien attackers. Although the Human Marines suffered some casualties, they were able to overwhelm the aliens' energy shields and kill all of them with extreme prejudice.

When the alien ship disengaged from the Bulk Discount, the UNSC Walk of Shame – an ONI Sloop – fired all of its Archer missiles to disable the ship's energy shields and engines, allowing the surviving Marines to board it. Commanded by Sergeant Major Nolan Byrne and Staff Sergeant Avery Johnson, the Marine fireteams armed with heavy weapons killed the remaining aliens and recovered some of their technology.

However, they had to make a hasty retreat after the aliens activated the self-destruct sequence. After safely retreating to the Walk of Shame, the Marines and ONI Agents returned to Harvest to report their findings along with recovered alien technology and corpses. Needless to say, the entirety of Harvest CMA Command and the UNSC garrison forces was in an absolute state of shock and disbelief.

Humanity had an actual First Contact with alien life and it didn't go well.

A team of scientists brought in by ONI and the UNSC were tasked with figuring out how to proceed with future contact with this alien species and studying their technology. Some said that Humanity should apologize to the aliens for killing some members of their species; many others said that Humanity should prepare ourselves for potential war because this particular alien species had already proven to be extremely hostile toward Humans.

All findings were sent to the Unified Earth Government and the United Nations Space Command Headquarters through the wavespace relay stations.

After a few days of waiting, Harvest Command finally got their response. To their immense relief, the UNSC, with direct orders from the UEG President, would dispatch two Rapid Deployment Fleets (RDF) to reinforce the Harvest Defense Fleet. The fact that they were ready to dispatch two whole reaction fleets showed how seriously the UNSC took the threat of hostile aliens. Although Besart was relieved to receive support on such a scale, it would still take them some time to get here.

In the meantime, the local defense forces would have to do whatever it took to prepare themselves for the worst-case scenario. Additionally, the local scientists and AI residents would do their best to figure out the salvaged alien technology and reverse-engineer it, if possible.

Thus, here he was, doing his best to prepare the Harvest Defense Fleet for a potential alien invasion.

Since they had no idea when the aliens would return and what kind of forces they would bring to bear upon the colonists of Epsilon Indi system, Harvest CMA Command was ordered by the UNSC High Command to have the planetary defense forces train and prepare themselves as much as possible. Using the intelligence gathered by the ONI vessel and the Marines, the CMA Navy and Marine Corps, and the UNSC Marine Corps stationed on Harvest and Barrows ran many simulations and trained extensively in a combat situation.

He then went on to review the current status of his fleet. Calling it "Fleet" was a bit of a stretch.

At best, the number of ships here only amounted to a Battle Group according to the UNSC standards. And that wasn't mentioning the ships themselves since most of them were slated to be replaced by the newer classes of ships in the next two decades.

With the CMA Boring Villager serving as the flagship, the Harvest Defense Fleet consisted of:

+ Four Diligence-class Heavy Destroyer

+ Eight Charon-class Light Frigate

+ Six Scholte-class Missile Corvette

+ Eight Lancer-class Fast-Attack Corvette

+ Twelve Gladius-class Heavy Corvette

All in all, it was a decent battle group that could take on an entire Insurrectionist Fleet. However, he had no idea how effective it would be against an alien fleet, especially when considering that the aliens had advanced technologies like energy shields and plasma weapons.

According to the reports from Lieutenant Commander Jilan Al-Cygni, it took the entirety of the UNSC Walk of Shame's Archer missile armament to drain the ship's energy shields. Even then, the ship's destruction was due to the aliens hitting the 'self-destruct button' and the Marines barely escaped with their lives.

Given how little they knew about the alien capabilities, Besart decided that the best way to engage the aliens was to overwhelm their energy shields with superior firepower if they ever decided to engage them in battle.

After reviewing the war game simulation results, he brought up the combat data involving the alien ship and its crewmembers before calling out to his ship's AI. "Marian, what do you think about these aliens?"

"Are you asking about their physiology, behavior, computer interface, weapons, or technology in general, Sir?" Marian who is the shipboard Smart AI of the Boring Villager asked for clarification. The AI took the form of a young woman with brunette hair wearing elegant office dress.

"Just everything in general," Besart said, "I want to know if we stand a chance against them in battle."

Marian brought up the images of the aliens' weapons and ship. "Based on the weapons and computers recovered by the Marine boarding teams, we know that these avian creatures utilize advanced plasma weapons that fire superheated bolts of plasma contained in magnetic field. The effects on organic targets can be devastating as the plasma projectiles flash vaporizes the soft flesh beneath the clothing and in some cases, blow off entire unarmored limbs or body parts."

She went on to analyze the alien ship. "As for the ship itself, we cannot say much aside from the fact that it utilizes purely directed-energy weapons. It fires three controlled bursts of plasma contained in magnetic field to disable the Bulk Discount's defensive systems so that the alien combatants could conduct their boarding action."

"Do you think our troops can survive a large-scale direct engagement against them?" He asked for her opinion. The engagement on the Bulk Discount was quite small and brief so there was little intel they could gain on this regard.

"Given how little we know about about these aliens, I cannot say for certain, Sir. While the conventional battle armor our Infantrymen and Marines wear can block some shots and dissipate the heat to a certain extent, it can be overwhelmed quickly by their weapons' rapid firing rates. I suggest we add more heat-resistant layers to the armor in order to protect our troops against their weapons or at least, increase their survivability during close-quarter combat."

Although Besart already knew about all of this, he decided to review the battle intelligence once more to remind himself of what they would likely go up against. For all they knew, the alien ship that attacked the Bulk Discount was simply a civilian vessel turned pirate ship and their warship equivalent was many times more powerful and boasted weapons beyond their imagination.

Suddenly, klaxons began to blare across the Boring Villager's bridge, taking everyone by surprise.

Before he could even ask what was going on, Sif – the Shipping OperationsAIbased on Tiara Station – appeared on the holo-projector next to him. "Admiral, our probes and satellites have detected unknown vessels exiting Slipspace ruptures beyond Deepdale's outer orbit."

"How many guests are we expecting?" Besart asked.

"Sixteen capital ships, Sir!" Sif said and brought up the sensor reports for him.

"Show me!" He ordered.

The Smart AI brought up the spectroscopic analysis reports for the Rear Admiral to review, allowing him to see the full details of the alien vessels.

"The largest ship designated 'Alpha-One' is 4,580 meters in length!" She began her report, "The second largest ship designated 'Alpha-Two' is 3,564 meters length, four ships with the third design designated Bravos One through Four are 3,328 meters in length. Finally, the smallest ships with the fourth design are 1,912 meters in length, designated Charlies One through Ten. They are bypassing Deepdale and moving toward us at an incredible speed. Based on their current speed and headings, they will reach Harvest's outer orbit in approximately forty-five hours."

Though alarmed by the sizes of the alien vessels, the CMA Rear Admiral remained composed and began to scrutinize their details and noticed that there were three designs in total. Being former UNSC naval officer allowed his mind to process and analyze the battle intelligence much faster than the new recruits and inexperienced officers in the Harvest Defense Fleet.

If the alien ship which had raided the civilian vessels was their equivalent of a scout or civilian ship, then these ships would certainly be their warships. Their sleek and predatory designs radiated power and demanded submission from the enemy. The fact that they possessed none of the weapon systems that Humanity was familiar with should already have spoken volumes about their technological superiority over Humanity.

Their bulbous designs and protruding components may look impractical and redundant to Human ship designers but he knew better than to judge a whole book simply by its cover. For all he knew, a single one of their smallest ships could destroy his meager battle group while shrugging off all of the firepower thrown its way.

"Marian, sound the general quarters!" Besart said firmly and turned to his Second-in-Command – Captain Keller Frankston, "Keller, have everyone man their battle stations and raise the alert status to 'Yellow'!"

"Roger that, Admiral!" Captain Frankston said and immediately began giving concise orders to the ship's command staff as the alarms of general quarters began to blare across the ship.

"Sif, connect me to the generals and the governor!" He said.

"Already did, Admiral! They are ready for you now." Sif replied and opened the communication lines for him.

The holographic forms of three men and one woman appeared side by side on the holo-table. As soon as they were connected, the Rear Admiral saluted them, a gesture that they (except the Governor) returned in earnest.

General Ludwig Reinhard is the commanding officer of Harvest CMA Army, including all of the combat elements attached to them. Given his rank, General Reinhard is the highest-ranking officer of the entire armed forces on both Harvest and Barrows.

Lieutenant General Tommaso Ström commands two United Nations Space Command Marine Corps stationed on Harvest and another on Barrows, totaling at 150,000 UNSC personnel. Each Corps has five Combat Divisions and one Division is made up of five Brigade Combat Teams.

In addition to the regular armed forces, there were also 2.8 million military reserves on standby and tasked with protecting Utgard, Gladsheim, Tigard, and other civilian settlements. If his battle group was ever destroyed, these men and women, as well as Harvest's nuclear arsenal would be all that stood between a hostile alien invasion and 37 million people of Harvest.

Compared to the Inner Colonies' Planetary Defense Forces (PDF), a combined force of this size would be a mere fraction of the regular forces defending a single colony world. And that wasn't mentioning the PDF of the Fortress Worlds like Reach, Midgard, and Olympus.

Just like himself, both Generals were combat veterans who had extensive experience in dealing with the Insurrectionists and pirates. For that matter, they were transferred to this far-flung colony of Human Space to protect Harvest. Similar to him, they have never expected that alien threats would be included in their scope of work.

Lastly, Major General Francheska Swanwick is the commander of the Harvest Air Defense Corps which incorporates the aerial combat elements of both CMA and UNSC on Harvest. While she was relatively young compared to the other two generals, the Air Force General had excellent scores in officer school and qualified leadership skills, courtesy of the other two.

As for Governor Nils Thune, he was a bit of handful since the man often voiced his negative opinions towards the UNSC and the UEG despite being an immigrant from Earth. He was also one of the few people who advocated against hostile action towards the aliens the most due to their unknown capabilities and the potential ramifications of challenging a technologically superior species.

While Besart couldn't outright deny his opinions, it was pointless to argue otherwise at this point given the hostile first contact between them and Humanity. Not to mention, his authority could be superseded by the military as soon as the aliens attacked them.

"Looks like the aliens have finally decided to knock on our doors!" General Reinhard said, "And they made one hell of an entrance too. What's the plan here, lady and gentlemen?"

"If it were up to me, I would say that we just nuke the bastards and salvage their tech," General Ström voiced his opinion clearly, "They might be tough but they aren't invincible. With enough firepower, their fancy shields will go down and our guns will pulverize them nicely."

"Are you insane, General?" Governor Nils Thune exclaimed, "Do you want to start an interstellar war between us and the aliens? What if they were only here for peaceful negotiations?"

The military officers in the meeting had to resist the urge to roll their eyes in front of the Governor regarding his argument. The UNSC General, however, didn't even bother hiding it before stating the obvious fact. "With all due respect, Mister Governor, that argument is very stupid. Do I have to remind you that they were responsible for four missing civilian freighters and two dozen casualties of the CMA and UNSC Marines? If they were here for peaceful negotiations, why the hell would they bring an entire battle group here?"

Though angry for indirectly being called "stupid", Governor Thune was silent for a moment before retorting. "Maybe… Maybe they bring those ships here as escorts for their diplomats. We are talking about actual aliens here, remember? Those aliens could be just pirates and criminals whereas these are the actual diplomats. We cannot judge an entire species based solely on the actions of a few dozen individuals. I mean… look at our own history and you will understand what I mean!"

As much as the military officers wanted to argue, the Governor certainly made a good point in that regard.

"We understand what you're getting at here, Mister Governor!" General Reinhard voiced his opinions, "However, we cannot just tie our hands, throw them a welcome committee, and expect good behaviors from them here, not when they possess the clear technological edge over us. If we do that, we may as well let them have the drop on us and kill us all."

"General Reinhard is right!" Major General Francheska Swanwick interjected, "At this point, we cannot deny that the aliens are or at least, capable of incredibly hostile actions toward us regardless of their intentions. Therefore, I believe our safest bet to protect the people of Harvest and Barrows is to work our strategies around the assumption that these aliens are coming here with hostile intentions. After all, it is always better to be safe than sorry."

The argument went on for two minutes until Besart defused the situation. "Regardless of their intentions, it is imperative that we strengthen our defenses to the best of our abilities and ensure the colonists' safety until they make their reasons for coming here known. Can we at least agree on that?"

The three Generals agreed with his point quickly whereas the Planetary Governor seemed to contemplate something. Eventually, he relented and said, "Fine, what do you have in mind, Adrmial?"

"For the Navy, we will position our ships a fair distance away from our orbital installations to make sure that they are unharmed in case a battle breaks out," Besart said and presented the holo-display for them to see, "However, I suggest we have some courier ships and the stations on standby to transmit the signals out of the system when the aliens make their hostile intent clear."

"We must make sure the relay stations are protected to get the news out to everyone!" General Ström said and Sif highlighted the Wavespace Relay Stations for them to see, "The aliens will definitely target them first if they have unfriendly intentions toward us." He emphasized the last phrase.

Wavespace Relay Stations are large transmission stations that maintain superluminal communications across interstellar distances. According to the protocols set by the UEG and the UNSC, each system must have at least one pair of relay stations to maintain FTL comms between colonies at all times. Without them, the colonists and local defense forces would have to rely on old-fashioned means of delivering messages to another system, which often took months on end in Slipspace.

Besart knew this so he already had plans to make sure the stations were protected. "If necessary, we will dispatch some corvettes and their fighter escorts to protect them."

"That plan is sound, Admiral!" General Reinhard said, "But I don't believe it's enough. We have to prepare contingency plans for when the aliens breach your defense lines and jam our comms as well. Sensor readings suggest that their ships use a very advanced propulsion system that allows them to travel incredibly fast at interplanetary distances."

Besart agreed with the General. When it comes to space warfare, communication speed can decide the outcome of a battle or a war. If they lost those stations before they could send the word out, it would take the UNSC months before they knew what happened here.

"We will use the gunships and heavy fighters to protect the stations," Besart added, "If the aliens jam us somehow, we will use some courier ships to deliver the message out to the UNSC."

After half an hour, the Admiral and the Generals made plans for every possible scenario and prepared their forces for them.

"Let's hope that our preparations are enough!" Besart said as his mind remembered a quote from one of the history books he read: No plans survive first contact with the enemy!

"If they ever decide to land, we might be able hold the fort until the UNSC arrives." General Reinhard said.

"You mean 'IF', right?" General Ström said grimly, "It's possible that they will bomb us from orbit after destroying the defense fleet."

His words served as a grim reminder for them all. As much as they didn't want to think about it, that possibility remained and there was little they could do about it, with the loss of the defense fleet.

"Our Air Division will do everything we can to protect the people!" General Swanwick said, "We will deal with that bridge when we get there."

"What about the civilians?" Governor Thune asked, his voice was more hesitant than before. "We don't have enough ships to evacuate them all."

"That's why we're here, Mister Governor!" General Reinhard said, "We will deal with the alien landing forces and protect our people. Of course, that is assuming the situation is that bad and the aliens land their forces here. In that case, our best option is to hold the fort until the CMA and UNSC reinforcements arrive."

"He's right, Mister Governor!" Besart stated, "For now, I suggest you begin the off-world evacuation using every ship equipped with a functional Slipspace Drive. We can use the cargo freighters to carry more people with each trip."

"As for the people who are stuck behind," General Reinhard said, "We will evacuate them to underground bunkers and shelters outside major population centers. Let's hope we can hold out until the UNSC gets here."

"Our fighters will escort them to their evacuation points, Mister Governor!" General Swanwick said, "You just have to worry about convincing the public to cooperate with our personnel."

The discussion went on for almost an hour until it was adjourned and everyone resumed their duty. As he watched the command staff work on their stations, Besart could only hope that all of their preparations were enough.

In the following hours, thousands of civilian vessels, such as cargo freighters, mining ships, tug boats, cruise ships, luxury yachts, etc. were commandeered by the Colonial Military Authority Navy and tasked with evacuating as many people out of the system and toward the nearest system with a sizable UNSC defense fleet. Any vessels that entered the system would be intercepted, inspected, and commandeered as evacuation ships for the civilian populus of Harvest and Barrows.

Governor Nils Thune's Colonial Administration managed to convince the public to begin evacuation and with the assistance from both the CMA and the UNSC, coordinate the evacuation efforts more quickly and effectively. After thirty-six hours of evacuation, almost two-thirds of the civilian population were evacuated from Epsilon Indi System and the CMA Navy was able to establishe a blockade around Harvest and Barrows to prevent civilian vessels from wandering into what could be a potential war zone.

The people who couldn't be evacuated were either volunteers or stuck temporarily due to the lack of evacuation ships. The CMA reserves and UNSC forces did their best to evacuate the remaining civilians to the various shelters and bunkers on the two colony worlds.

Finally, Rear Admiral Fankhauser positioned four Ajax Squadrons to protect the wavespace relay stations. Armed with a massive arsenal, the Ajax is a specialized gunship designed for hit-and-run tactics and planetary combat support roles. Each vessel is armed with a wide array of weapons. During heavy combat, the Ajax is supported by at least two dozen combat drones controlled by the crew onboard.

For the receiver destination, they decided to choose Arcadia in the Procyon System because it was one of the most important Outer Colonies, protected by a sizable UNSC fleet. Once the Wavespace Relays in Arcadia received the message, they would send it to Reach, Olympus, Midgard, and Earth. In case the aliens jammed their communications, they would dispatch a fleet of Falcon-class Courier Ships to those worlds in order to send the message out of the system.

Once all of the preparations were done, everyone in the CMA and the UNSC braced themselves for the upcoming encounter with aliens and silently prayed that they were enough.

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Interplanetary Space – 7.5 Light-seconds from Harvest

"Still no replies from our mysterious guests?" Captain Keller Frankston asked the ship's chief communications officer.

"Nothing, Sir!" Lieutenant Michelle Snyder replied as she stifled a yawn, "Maybe they don't use the same comms system as we do or they simply don't understand Human languages."

"Maybe… but that's not an excuse to refuse all forms of communications," Keller rubbed his chin and remarked, "We haven't detected any outgoing signals from them. Assuming that they did send out anything, it either works differently from our system or is not compatible with anything we are familiar with."

"Look on the bright side, Sir! At least, they haven't done anything to our systems yet, like jamming us or something." Lieutenant Ayden Hrzenjak – the helms control officer of the Boring Villager – said in an effort to make the atmosphere less tense. It didn't work as he intended.

"You're right! But still… don't let your guard down!" Captain Frankston said.

He then glanced at the bridge crew and noticed that some of the officers were also tired like her. "I know you are tired but stay vigilant, everyone! We have an entire planet depending on us for protection here. If you are too exhausted, rotate with your respective staff."

"Understood Sir!" Michelle said and the others followed.

Neither Besart nor Keller could blame them. After all, the atmosphere onboard every ship in the defense fleet was growing more intense with each passing hour and the crews have been working nonstop since the alien battle group appeared in the system.

When the alien battle group passed the Lagrange Points between Harvest and Deepdale, Besart sent out some probes to keep a close eye on the alien ships and gauge their reaction. So far, the aliens didn't react to the probes' presence but he didn't want to risk accidentally provoking them by placing the probes too close.

Once they reached the sufficient comms range, Besart had the monitoring probes begin blasting hails on all frequencies in their general direction, demanding the aliens to cease their advance, identify themselves, and state their intentions for coming here.

In addition, they sent some positive messages depicting friendly interactions between Humans and the aliens in an effort to prevent a misunderstanding between the two species. Though the footage were heavily edited, Besart and the officials believed that it could somehow give the aliens a positive first impression of Humanity.

Despite numerous transmissions being sent their way, the aliens didn't have any reaction aside from maintaining their current heading.

The most possible explanation for this silent treatment was that their comms systems were incompatible with the ones utilized by Humanity. Even if they had raided Human ships before, there was no guarantee that they would even go through the efforts of deciphering Human languages, let alone communicating with Humans using their languages.

As much as he wanted to assume that these aliens had hostile intentions toward Humanity, the voice of reason prevailed and he, as well as many, surmised that the aliens couldn't understand Human language or they operated on completely different behaviors, standards, and doctrines.

Nevertheless, the silent treatment was nerve-wracking for everyone in Harvest Defense Fleet. By now, every Human ship already had their weapon systems fully charged and locked on the encroaching alien battle group.

In spite of his fear and anxiety which were growing by the minute, Besart didn't want to be responsible for starting an interstellar conflict between Humanity and a technologically superior species/civilization over a simple misunderstanding.

He was about to order the Captain to give a final checkup on their weapon and defense systems when Lieutenant Snyder called out to them from her station. "Sirs, 'Sparrow A-027' just received a transmission from the ship designated 'Alpha Two'."

Sparrow A-027 was one of the probes dispatched to keep a close eye on the alien battle group. There were ten probes in total and they were maintaining a fair distance away from the alien vessels to avoid spooking them.

"Marian, make sure our cyber security and ECCM are in full swing!" Besart said and sat up from his command chair.

"Done, Sir!" Marian reported, "If they have anything even remotely harmful, my systems will intercept and flush them out nicely."

"Alright Michelle, open that message! Let's see what our guests have to say!"

The Lieutenant complied and began her work. She analyzed the transmission's content and was surprised to see that it was written in English.

Suddenly, the air around her seemed to get much colder as her eyes widened in shock. The abrupt silence from her caused everyone to be concerned, including Besart and Keller.

"What is it, Michelle?" Besart asked her, a sense of foreboding premonition was creeping up his spine.

"It's… It's a message… written in perfect English, Sir!" Her voice was laden with fear as her hands tapped on the console.

The message was put on display for everyone on the bridge to see.

It was at that exact moment that every Human who saw the message understood the dread and terror of First Contacts. One of the bridge officers even collapsed into her seat after reading the message.

"Your destruction is the will of the Gods… And we are their instruments!" The message read.

Besart immediately disregarded any notion of peaceful negotiations with these aliens and went to work.

He issued the order out loud, "Michelle, send that message to every ship in orbit, Harvest Command, and the relay stations! I want every Human soul in the system to see this message and ready for battle yesterday!"

"Yes Sir!" His words snapped the Lieutenant and everyone else out of their stupor and she resumed her duties quickly.

"Admiral, energy level on 'Alpha Two' is spiking!" Marian said with an urgent tone.

"What the hell are they going to do? Lieutenant Alvarez Chang – the Chief Weapons Officer of the Boring Villager exclaimed, "I don't see any turrets or weapon systems. How are they going to fire anything?"

"Questions later, Lieutenant!" Besart said, "Marian, open a fleetwide channel!"

"You are now live to all ships, Sir!" She said.

"This is Rear Admiral Besart Fankhauser of the CMA Boring Villager to all personnel of the Colonial Military Authority and the United Nations Space Command on Harvest. The aliens have made their hostile intentions clear toward Humanity. All ships, begin evasive maneuvers and…"

Before he could finish his broadcast, however, he was interrupted by Marian's shouting, her synthetic voice reverberated across the whole bridge. "ENEMY SHIP FIRING!"

The moment she finished her sentence, two beams of blindingly white light were fired from the alien flagship toward the Harvest Defense Fleet. The first beam was fired from the ship's bulbous bow whereas the second beam was fired from beneath the ship's neck-like section.

Almost instantly, the powerful energy beams crossed the distance of over 100,000 kilometers and reached their intended targets – the CMA Unwanted Guest and the CMA Their Own Accord at the front of their fleet formation.

What happened next would forever haunt the dreams of every Human who fought these aliens in battle.

As they were moving into firing positions, the CMA Unwanted Guest was struck on the starboard side whereas the CMA Their Own Accord was struck on its port side. The energy beams cut through multiple decks and sections of both vessels within seconds, showering the crews and components inside with deadly radiation. Both targeted vessels began listing on one side as multiple internal explosions slowly ripped them apart.

Eventually, both ships were engulfed in massive fireballs, flinging debris and components across the void in all directions. Their destruction was so quick and thorough that neither vessels could eject their lifeboats and escape pods.

In less than twenty seconds, over a thousand Human lives were extinguished.

"The Unwanted Guest and the Their Own Accord are lost with all hands!" Marian reported out loud, snapping everyone in the bridge of the Boring Villager out of their stupor, "Sir, energy levels on the other alien ships are spiking. They are opening a salvo on us!"

"All ships, conduct evasive maneuvers and fire at will!" Rear Admiral Besart Fankhauser gave his order to the entire defense fleet, "Marian, Michelle, send a Flash message to Arcadia. Tell them that the aliens fired the first shot and we are officially at war with them!"

"Roger that, Admiral!" They both said and went to work.

"Marian, keep an eye on our comms systems! If they jam us, send tight-beam messages to the Falcons and tell them to jump immediately! We need them to record the battle as long as possible."

"Yes Sir!" Marian said.

Once the order was given, several Falcon-class Courier Ships began to spool their engines and place themselves in orbit of Barrows, then have their long-range sensors at full power to observe and record the battle from a safe distance.

As the Boring Villager positioned herself for an optimal firing position, multiple plasma beams sliced through the void and headed straight toward the Human fleet. The CMA No Easy Game – another Charon-class Frigate – was destroyed while the other ships managed to barely escape instant death.

"Alvarez, fire the MAC once, then follow up with an Archer salvo!" Besart gave the order, "Rose, keep your eyes on the sensors and tell me everything you can about their weapon systems and shields. Ayden, you and Marian take the helms. Make sure to keep us out of their firing arcs!"

A chorus of "Yes Sir!" came and the officers went to work.

"Marian, try to see if you can hack into their systems! Work with the others if you have to!" He gave the order.

"Yes Sir! No guarantees on that front but we will do our best!" Marian said and went to work.

Inside the cyberspace, she began coordinating with Sif and the other shipboard AIs to try hacking into the alien ships' computer systems. Using the probes surrounding the alien battle group, the AIs began their hacking attempts to infiltrate the alien vessels' computer systems and if possible, wreak havoc on their systems from the inside.

The entire vessel shuddered as the Able-class Heavy Destroyer's Magnetic Accelerator Cannon fired off a 600-ton ferrotungsten projectile at 12,000 km/s. She was followed by all of the other ships of Harvest Defense Fleet. The two Diligence-class Destroyers, the Charon-class Frigates, the Lancer-class Corvettes, and the Gladius-class Corvettes all fired their cannons in rapid succession. Their projectiles were followed by a hailstorm of Archer missiles from every ship in the fleet.

"Sir, alien warships are firing some type of guided plasma warheads!" Lieutenant Rose Gazda – Chief Sensor Officer – exclaimed from her station and brought up the sensor data. "One hundred and twenty-four guided warheads are heading our way."

"Helina, make sure the APA intercept those warheads!" He ordered Lieutenant Helina Rožkalns – the officer in charge of the vessel's defense systems.

"Roger that, Admiral!" Lieutenant Rožkalns said and went to work.

From the alien battle group, dozens of purple cylindrical projectiles were launched and accelerated toward the Human ships using long-range magnetic fields. Though far slower than the plasma beams they had used earlier, these plasma orbs functioned like guided missiles, making them even more deadly.

Eventually, the salvo of purple orbs with long plasma trails versus the salvo of missiles and magnetically accelerated projectiles crisscrossed with each other and reached their targets at unimaginable speeds.

Besart, along with everyone on the Boring Villager, could only watch helplessly as the plasma torpedoes tracked and chased after the fleeing CMA ships. As the hostile warheads approached the Human ships at great speeds, multiple streams of guided projectiles were fired from their sides, indicating that the ships' Active Protection Array5 were in full effect.

Different from the ones utilized by the UNSC Navy, the APA variants they were using fired only three types of guided munitions: Smokescreen, Flare, and Shrapnel.

The APA of the CMA Lucky Gambler managed to stop four plasma torpedoes but it was eventually overwhelmed by four more. Two of them were intercepted at near point-blank range but the other two struck the Lucky Gambler with the force of a meteor. The torpedoes penetrated through the thick armor plating and burned through multiple sections, causing the unfortunate vessel to drift away until it was consumed by a massive explosion.

The doomed vessel was followed by another Diligence-class Destroyer, three more Charon-class Frigates, two Scholte-class Corvettes, four Gladius-class Corvettes, and three Lancer-class Corvettes. The APAs on these vessels were more lacking than those of the Destroyer ship types and above as they were designed for the Archer missiles only.

As a result, their fate was already sealed. Each Human ship suffered at least two of those devastating torpedoes and was consumed in a massive explosion.

The remaining CMA vessels scattered in all directions in an effort to confuse the aliens' targeting systems. Some of the larger ships also used their own drones and APAs to increase their survivability.

When two of the purple orbs headed toward the Boring Villager, her APA turrets swiveled and started firing dozens of specialized shrapnel and flare missiles to intercept the offending warheads. With Marian handling the calculations, the missiles detonated just in front of the plasma torpedoes, showering them with clouds of superheated projectiles. The clouds of shrapnel were able to stop the warheads as they detonated upon impact.

Besart's relief was short-lived as there were four torpedoes more headed their way. Glancing at the holo-table, he noticed that the other ships were also doing their best to survive the alien ships' onslaught.

As for their own barrage, on the other hand, it didn't produce the results that he had hoped.

One-third of the fleet's MAC rounds missed due to the distance and the maneuvering speeds of the alien vessels. The ones that struck were deflected by their powerful energy shields. Around two-thirds of the Archer missiles were intercepted by the enemy ships' laser point-defense systems. The remaining missiles struck the hostile warships in rapid succession.

It was as if the universe was playing a cruel joke on Humanity that day. The crews of the surviving ships watched on in shock and horror as all of their attacks were absorbed by the energy shields of the alien ships. MAC rounds made impact against the shields, resulting in brief explosions of light and fragments upon the impact point for a few seconds. The same was true for the Archer missiles.

After the salvo was completed, none of the enemy ships suffered any damage and the alien battle group continued moving forward, as if completely unbothered by the sheer amount of firepower just poured upon them.

"No fucking way!" Lieutenant Alvarez Chang exclaimed, "Just how powerful are those shields?"

"Marian, give me a sit-rep on that infiltration!" Besart asked the shipboard AI.

"No progress on that front, Sir!" She answered, "Their ECCM is good enough to prevent remote hacking and tampering. Unless we are plugged directly or have a way in through their own transmissions, we can't do anything other than monitoring their signals."

"DAMN IT!" Besart cursed just when a plasma beam barely missed their ship's port side by a few dozen meters, "How many ships do we have left?"

They had been lucky enough to not targeted directly by those guided plasma projectiles but he knew that eventually, their luck would run out.

"Twenty-seven, Sir! But some of our ships have suffered varying degrees of damage due to the enemy's plasma weapons." Marian reported.

"Michelle, tell General Swanwick to send the recovery bots and rescue boats for any lifeboats or escape pods from the dead ships!" He gave the order to Lieutenant Synder.

"Roger that, Admiral!" to Lieutenant Synder relayed his order to the Air Force General.

Given how thorough the destruction caused by the alien ships' weapons was, Besart doubted that there was any point in sending recovery robots and rescue shuttles to retrieve the survivors from the doomed ships. Not to mention, they were in no position to rescue them, especially when they were still in the middle of a battle.

Even so, that was not an excuse to abandon anyone lucky enough to survive the battle.

As the battle progressed, Besart racked his mind to devise the best strategy to deal the most damage to the alien ships. Although they could eventually overwhelm the aliens' energy shields with enough firepower, this could only be achieved with focus fire of multiple ships or MAC rounds on a single alien ship to overwhelm their shields and inflict meaningful damage on the target vessel.

The biggest challenge to this strategy was, they couldn't maintain the most optimal firing positions to keep up their firing rates since they had to keep conducting evasive maneuvers just to avoid instant death by those plasma beams and torpedoes. Even with the AIs handling the work, this task was almost impossible given the current circumstances. Not to mention, he highly doubted that the aliens would just let them execute their strategy that easily.

For the moment, the most likely key to ensure victory was their stockpile of guided munitions or missiles. Archer missiles were powerful but they lacked the strength to deliver the decisive blow.

With that in mind, he decided to use the second most powerful weapon in their current arsenal. He turned to Lieutenant Chang, "Alvarez, arm the Typhons! Time to hit them with everything we've got!"

"Yes, Admiral!" Alvarez said and asked Marian, "Marian, I need the clearance codes!" The Lieutenant knew that there was no point in holding back if the aliens already shot first.

"Already sent it, Lieutenant!" Marian said, "I will handle the targeting solutions and guidance. You just have to press the big red button."

"Good to see you can make jokes in these circumstances, Marian!" The Chief Weapons Officer of the Boring Villager said and began the firing sequence for their nuclear arsenal.

Besart then gave the order on the fleetwide channel. "All ships, prepare to fire the Typhons on my mark! Focus fire on the Alphas and Bravos One through Four! Use your Archers to clear the path for your missiles! Once you finish the salvo, return to Harvest's orbit and secure the stations!"

All the while, they continued to conduct evasive maneuvers to avoid the beams and orbs of death from the alien ships. After a few seconds of work, Lieutenant Alvarez Chang reported, "Admiral, all Typhons are ready to fire on your command. Which one is our target, Sir?"

Typhon-class Nuclear Missile is the most powerful weapon that the CMA Navy is allowed to possess by the Unified Earth Government to protect the people against the Insurrectionist factions in the Outer Colonies due to how well-armed and aggressive they were. Although the Typhon is much weaker than the Shiva-class, it served its purpose well enough during the Insurrection War. Considering the origin of those groups, Besart understood why they wanted to limit the military power of the Colonial Military Authority.

Now, they were about to bring it to bear against the aliens.

Ironically, it was thanks to the Insurrectionists that the CMA was even allowed to have nuclear weapons in the first place. During the Insurrection War, the rebels and pirates used so many makeshift and stolen nuclear-grade weapons that the UEG had no other choice but to play fire with fire.

"Target the Alphas with a half salvo!" Besart said, "Save the rest for later!"

Once the Lieutenant gave the all-clear signal, Besart sucked in a breath and waited for the right moment. After his ship successfully evaded another enemy salvo, he exclaimed. "FIRE!"

From the both sides of the Able-class Heavy Destroyer, forty nuclear missiles were ejected from their launch tubes and their tail engines ignited, propelling them toward the targets. They were soon followed by a salvo of Archer missiles. The remaining ships also launched their Archer missiles to cover their own Typhons.

"Enemy ships are launching fighters, Sir!" Lieutenant Rose Gazda reported, "Three hundred star-fighters of different types and counting."

"Let the Baracudas and Chandeliers deal with them! Clear a path for our missiles!" Besart ordered as he watched hundreds of teardrop-shaped and insectoid star-fighters speed away from their motherships and accelerate toward their missile barrage on the holo-display.

Each Human ship launched two to three dozen Chandelier missiles ahead of the Typhons and Archers toward the incoming enemy fighter swarm. Propelled by electromagnetic rails, the Chandeliers reached their targets much faster than the nuclear warheads and detonated amidst the alien fighter groups, showering the hostile fighters with thousands of needle-shaped micro-missiles.

The insectoid fighters lacked energy shielding so they were taken out faster by the cloud of micro-missiles. Meanwhile, the teardrop-shaped fighters were tougher and had energy shielding so it took more missiles to bring down. Nevertheless, Chandelier missile swarms were able to take out a significant number of them in the process.

After the missiles did their job, then came the Baracuda drone swarms.

Each drone swarm was divided into different flight groups, controlled by the mothership's AI. Whenever a group lost its mothership, the AI of the nearby ship took its place as the stranded flight group's mothership. Being the resident AI of the flagship, Marian was able to control two groups at the same time without hampering her processing power.

Groups of surviving enemy fighters started engaging in close-quarters battle with the Baracuda fighter drones. Although the alien fighters were more advanced and possessed powerful directed-energy weapons, the Baracudas had numerical superiority and better maneuverability coordination on their side, allowing them to score more kills on enemy fighters.

"Sir, General Swanwick is requesting permission to join the battle!" Lieutenant Snyder reported from her station.

"No, tell her to keep the heavy fighters and bombers close to the stations and the planet's surface! I need them to reinforce the PDF should we fall here."

On the holo-table, he could see many Archer and Typhon missiles were intercepted by the enemy's point-defense systems and insectoid fighters. As the Typhons approached the "Alphas", four of the "Charlies" moved into the missiles' paths and used themselves as shields.

Typon missile functions similar to the MIRV (Multiple Independently Targetable Reentry Vehicle) in the 21st century, with the difference being that the Typhon can function even in space. At the distance of 400 kilometers from the targets, the missile's top split open to reveal 12 thermonuclear warheads, each of which has the yield of 10.5 megatons of TNT. Besart squinted his eyes and noticed that their point-defense system seemed to struggle to keep up with the sheer number of warheads headed their way.

Eventually, the nuclear warheads detonated against their shields and three dozen new suns were created. They were bright enough to be visible even from here, through the bridge's windows. The resulting EMP caused by the nuclear detonations washed across the void and disabled the surviving fighters on both sides.

Every Human who saw the scene held their breath as they witnessed the second most powerful weapon in their current arsenal at work. Their sensors were temporarily blinded by the detonations, causing the holo-display to flicker.

"Give me something, Rose!" Besart said while his eyes were fixed on the fleet's formation on the holo-table.

The Chief Sensor Officer squinted her eyes on her console and didn't reply until the sensors got a proper reading on the battlefield. Eventually, she sent the data to the holo-table and replied with a grim tone. "Alphas One and Two remain intact. Bravos Two, Three, and Four suffer some damage on their hulls. Charlies Four, Five, and Six suffered extensive damage on their hulls. The remaining Charlies are repositioning themselves around Alphas and Bravos."

Besart cursed and recognized the hopeless situation they were facing. His sentiment was shared by the other ship commanders.

The battle between the two opposing fleets raged on as the Human ships continued to evade the aliens' destructive salvos. The alien ships, on the other hand, resumed their attack and managed to destroy one more Charon-class Frigate and three Scholte-class Corvettes. The remaining ships suffered more plasma damage but were able to retreat out of the alien ships' firing range.

Seeing that there was no point in fighting a superior hostile force head-on, Besart decided to split the fleet into three smaller groups: First Group "Alpha" led by his flagship and two groups "Bravo" and "Charlie" led by the Heavy Corvettes. His group would defend Tiara whereas the other two consisting of purely Corvettes retreated to Harvest's orbits to defend Tiara and the Orbital Dockyards – Königstein and Caldbeck.

While Harvest Command already made plans in case they were all destroyed, Besart would prefer that they remained intact for their use. Since he could barely protect his own fleet here, he decided that coordinating their attacks with the Planetary Defense Network would be the better option.

Unfortunately, the aliens seemed to have picked up on his intent. As the fleet began its hasty retreat to Harvest's orbits, the alien battle group began deploying dozens of specialized craft toward the Human fleet.

"Admiral, the aliens are launching boarding craft!" Marian said and highlighted the craft in question for the Rear Admiral.

Besart examined the data and noticed that these craft were bigger than the alien void fighters and drones. The most prominent feature on them was the long tube-like tail behind the craft, presumably serving as the boarding tube. This point was further proven when these craft were escorted by the fighters and drones.

"Where are they headed?" He asked the AI.

"Half of them are heading directly for us and the Waking Menace!" Marian said and projected the alien boarding craft's trajectories on the holo-table, "The remaining craft are headed for Tiara, Königstein, and Caldbeck."

He turned to Lieutenant Helina Rožkalns. "Helina, what is the status of our point defenses?"

"Those plasma beams and torpedoes did a number on us, Sir!" Lieutenant Rožkalns answered, "We're down to only six Sentries, eight Ramparts, and thirteen Chandelier launchers. The good news is, we still have a full Hurricane Network."

Besart was relieved that they could at least defend themselves for now. However, he doubted that they could maintain the status quo with the aliens having superior firepower and numerical advantage on their side.

"That'll do for now," he remarked, "Make sure to keep those boarding craft and fighters away from us! Marian, direct the drones to intercept them and assist Helena!"

"Understood, Sir!" Marian said and worked in tandem with the resident AI of the CMA Waking Menace – Ursula. The Waking Menace is the last Diligence-class Heavy Destroyer of the Harvest Defense Fleet.

For the following minutes, the battle was mainly Alien fighters versus Human fighter drones.

Though lacking in terms of firepower, Human fighter drones compensated with their numerical advantage. The alien fighters' energy shields were able to resist the initial volleys of 35mm rotary cannons but they were quickly overwhelmed by the sheer number of lead poured into them. As for the large teardrop-shaped fighters, they took more efforts to take down but nothing couldn't be fixed by the AGSM-10 missiles.

As the two fighter swarms clashed with each other, the alien boarding craft and some of their escorts slipped through and headed toward the Boring Villager and the Waking Menace. The two last Heavy Destroyers of the whole fleet were escorted by the last two Charon-class Frigates.

The Hurricane Networks on the Human warships came online as the rotary cannons and missile launchers unleashed a hailstorm of bullets at the fast-approaching alien boarding craft and starfighters. Besart and his command staff watched with bated breath as the storm of armor-piercing bullets quickly overwhelmed the incoming large alien boarding craft's energy shields.

Although their armor was fairly tough compared to Human dropships, they were taken care of by Havoc missiles. The last alien boarding craft was destroyed when it was around ten kilometers from the Boring Villager, showering the ship's hull with debris.

The alien ships fired a few plasma beams at the Human fleet, causing them to conduct evasive maneuvers once more. The situation lasted for twenty-five more minutes when Lieutenant Rose Gazda noticed an anomaly from the alien ships.

They seemed to have slowed down and the energy levels on their propulsion systems have decreased significantly. She ran some diagnostics to make sure their sensors weren't malfunctioning until she was certain of the results.

"Sir, the alien battle group has stopped moving at 2.5 light-seconds from us!" She exclaimed.

Besart did a double take upon hearing her report.

Sure enough, the sensor data showed that the alien vessels have slowed their advance toward them and appeared to be drifting forward due to inertia only. He was about to give the order for the other ships to make haste and retreat back to Harvest when Lieutenant Snyder called out to him, "Sir, Alpha Two is hailing us!"

Needless to say, everyone was genuinely surprised to learn that these aliens decided to hail them after all this fighting, especially after sending that ominous message. As much as he wanted to focus on tactical retreat, he was also curious to hear what the aliens wanted to say.

"Accept the hail but make sure our ECCM are in full effect! Relay the signal to all other ships and Harvest Command as well!" He gave the order.

It was a video call and the holo-screen was filled with static for a few seconds. Once the signal was cleared, every Human who listened in was shocked for a second time that day. They were astonished to learn that the individual on the screen belonged to another species, completely different from the one that had previously been encountered by the CMA and UNSC Marines.

The alien entity on the screen was large and hairy, its face was brutish and seemed to possess a permanent angry expression, if Human emotions were used for reference. The entity's elaborate helmet or headgear was golden in color and it sat on a massive stone chair that was fit for its size. Its upper body was covered in bizarre armor and belts of some kind.

For some reason, Besart felt that the creature's command chair looked very out of place on the alien flagship's bridge. Then again, it wasn't that he was in any place to judge the aesthetic design choices of an alien species anyway.

Suddenly, the creature spoke in its native language which sounded more like a series of growls and barks. As the Humans could wonder what it was saying, the creatue's statement was followed by some sentences written in clear English at the bottom of the screen.

"I am Chieftain Maccabeus of the Jiralhanae, the Vanguard of The Covenant, the mighty empire that rules over this galaxy. State your identitty and affliations, Commander of the Heretics Forces who have survived a battle against us for this long!" The translation said.

After reading the sentences, a thousand questions ran through everyone's mind. With the benefit of being Artificial Intelligences, Sif and Marian were able to analyze the alien's words in nanoseconds.

Marian then sent a message to Besart's neural implant.

"Admiral, 'Jiralhanae' is the name of its species. 'Covenant' is the name of the interstellar organization that the Jiralhanae is associated with. Based on our analysis, we believe that the avian species whom had raided the civilian vessels three months ago was also a member race of this 'Covenant'. Since they already translated our language using the civilian vessels' systems, you will be able to communicate with them with little issues. I suggest you keep it talking so we can try infiltrating their systems through their own signal."

Seeing the opportunity to gain valuable intelligence on the enemy, Besart didn't even hesitate to reply to her query: Permission Granted!

And so, Marian disappeared from the holo-projector and went to work, coordinating with Sif and Ursula. He then straightened his naval uniform and turned to address the alien on screen.

"I am Rear Admiral Besart Fankhauser of the Colonial Military Authority Navy, the Commander of this vessel and our species is Humanity!" He made sure to emphasize the words and state them clearly for the alien computers to translate. "For what purpose have you come here, attacked our vessels, and slaughtered our people like this, Chieftain Maccabeus of The Covenant?" Besart didn't even bother hiding anger and hostility in his tone as he questioned the alien commander.

Every Human who watched the transmission also felt the same.

After reading the translation on their side, the alien seemed to pick up on his tone and its mouth widened into a grin or the equivalent of one. If it were a Human, Besart believed that it was actually smiling right now.

Maccabeus replied with another series of growls and barks. Instead of subtitles like the first time, the computer translated his statement through audio and based on how deep the sound was, the Humans assumed that the Jiralhanae's gender was male.

Furthermore, this suggested that the aliens' computers were advanced enough to rapidly learn and translate languages by simply analyzing their tones, pronunciations, and voices, then they relayed the messages through audio form. This computational capability suggested that the Covenant was vastly more experienced in dealing with First Contacts with different intelligent species than Humanity.

Upon closer examination, they noticed that there were several individuals of another species on the bridge. These aliens were also bipedal, much shorter than the Jiralhanae, seemed to possess exoskeletons, and had oversized forearms. Their upper torsos were covered with weirdly shaped armor and they wore some kind of breathing apparatus, covering most of their faces.

"Your species have committed the gravest of all heresies, the defilation of the Forerunners' works. After scouring through the computers of your pathetic vessels, our great leaders – the High Prophets – discovered that your race had destroyed a Forerunner reliquary and defiled their eternal legacy. For this heresy, the High Prophets have sentenced your entire race to extermination." The translation said.

Once the translation was finished, Besart and everyone else were equally confused and angry at the alien's statement.

"The Forerunners? Defilation of their works? High Prophets? Their leaders suddenly decided to exterminate Humanity without even talking properly first? What the fuck is this alien talking about?" Besart's mind was flooded with questions and emotions but he suppressed them to prevent them from clouting his judgment.

He decided to focus on buying more time for the AIs to infiltrate their systems. "Hopefully, they won't notice the AIs' work!" He thought to himself.

He asked the alien. "What are the Forerunners? Your leaders claimed that we destroyed one of their reliquaries and defied their legacy but we have never even heard of or discovered anything of sorts. Is this some kind of misunderstanding?"

Maccabeus processed his answer for a moment before letting out a supposedly angry growl. "The Forerunners are our Gods, a race of the most powerful beings in the galaxy, and they achieved Ascension a long, long time ago. The Covenant was founded by the High Prophets so that all races in the galaxy could ascend like they did through the Great Journey. As for your race, you have been deemed 'Heretics' and as such, worthy of complete extermination."

He paused for a moment before continuing, "Do not take us for fools, Heretics! Our Luminary discovered many Relics on your world. We have come here to retrieve them and wipe your pathetic race from existence. Any further attempts to buy time will be futile."

"So… it is all for the sake of your Gods that you have come here to wage war on our species? For these so-called 'Heresies' that we did not even know have committed?" As anger surged within him, Besart was determined to find out why these aliens have decided to exterminate Humanity out of such preposterous reasons.

At this question, Maccebeus's smile widened, revealing sharp fangs underneath. He replied. "Fortunately for your kind, we value strength and obedience. Throughout the battle, you have proven yourselves to be fierce warriors that deserve recognition by the High Prophets. If you submit yourselves to our rule and hand over ALL of the Relics in your possession, the High Prophets will reconsider their judgment, keep some of you alive, and accept you into the Covenant."

"And what will happen to us IF we decide to join your Covenant?" Besart had a feeling that he wouldn't like the answer.

"We will scour your worlds clean in search of more Forerunner Relics. If we cannot find any, we will simply glass them to make sure you DO NOT rebel against us. Once you pledge allegiance to the Prophets and accept them as your Supreme Leaders and the Great Journey as your religion, you will live as OUR SERVANTS to atone for the heresies your kind has committed. Well, a portion of you will, at least, because the High Prophets have already sentenced the majority of your species to holy cleansing."

The more the Jiralhanae Chieftain talked, the more angry Besart felt. His anger was slowly reaching its boiling point.

"How dare these aliens come here with such adacious claims and subjugate Humanity simply because of such nonsensical reasons like this?" He had no doubt that this was the question on the mind of every Human listening in on the call at the moment.

"SO… Do you accept these terms, Rear Admiral Besart Fankhauser?" Maccabeus asked.

At that moment, Besart was shocked to find the decision that would decide the fate of his entire species was unreasonably placed on him. He looked around at his command staff whose gaze now fell upon him in worried expectations. He had no doubt that everyone else was looking at him as well.

He contemplated the consequences of both accepting and refusing the alien's offer:

If he accepted, he would subject Humanity to becoming what is essentially a slave race of an interstellar empire made up of multiple species.

If he refused, he would plunge Humanity into a massive conflict with a technologically superior enemy.

It was truly a "Damned if you do; Damned if you don't!" situation.

All of a sudden, his neural implant was flooded with messages from the other ship commanders and officers, including the Generals on Harvest.

"I don't know about you, Admiral! But I would rather die fighting than to submit to these Xeno bastards!" Message from Captain Garsevan Helmut of the CMA Waking Menace.

"Do not accept their terms, Admiral!" Message from the Commander of the CMA Dawn On Subic Bay – one of the Charon-class Frigates of his group.

"Don't listen to them, Admiral!" Message from the Commander of the second Charon-class Frigate – the CMA Some Negative Feedback – of his group.

Most of them were from the ship captains with some of them from the ground forces commanders. Ultimately, only four of them stood out to him.

"General Ludwig Reinhard here! We've already reached the consensus, Admiral! Our answer is: WE DO NOT ACCEPT THEIR TERMS!"

"General Tommaso Ström here! IF you accept those terms, it will be considered a clear Act of Treason to the Unified Earth Government and I will handle your punishment myself. IF we survive this battle of course."

"General Swanwick here! I cannot stop you from making your decision, Admiral. But I agree with the Generals on this matter. DO NOT ACCEPT THEIR TERMS!"

The last message was from the Governor himself and to his surprise, it was very short and simple. "Do what you have to do, Admiral! We stand with you!"

The Rear Admiral looked over to Captain Keller Frankston who simply nodded at him, communicating wordlessly. The other officers of his command staff also agreed.

With everyone giving their support, the darkness clouding Besart's mind vanished completely. He knew what he had to do now.

Seeing that he was supported by every Human there was, Besart steeled himself and turned his attention towards the alien commander on screen. He wasn't an expert on Xenopsychology but he could tell that Maccabeus was running out of patience based on his permanent glare.

"We refuse!" He uttered those two words with resolute in his voice.

"What did you just say, Heretic?" Maccabeus's expression turned from mild anger to confusion.

"You heard me right, Chieftain!" He stood his ground, "We, Humanity, REFUSE to become a part of your wretched empire! YOU came here with hostile intentions toward us and destroyed two dozen of our ships, snuffing out over eight thousand Human lives. Only AFTER ALL THAT did you decide to open communications with us. You then proceeded to label us 'Heretics', insult our intelligence, and demand us to hand over Relics that we know ABSOLUTELY NOTHING about and to accept what is essentially SLAVERY for our ENTIRE SPECIES!"

He paused for a moment to let the translation software do its work before finishing. "If those are all of your demands, then you can go ahead and shove that garbage religion up your own arses and then, GO FUCK YOURSELVES!"

Besart's attitude and tone were so resolute that some of the ship commanders and officers cheered for the Rear Admiral. The Jiralhanae Chieftain seemed to process his answer for a few moments.

After reading the translation, Maccabeus reacted violently by letting out a growl of rage and slamming his fist onto the stone chair before speaking. "Then, so it shall be, Heretics!" He then laughed in between his growl, "Honestly, you've made things much easier for us because now, we can slaughter your pathetic species to our hearts' content. Since you refuse our generosity and mercy, we will BURN ALL OF YOUR WORLDS to ashes, starting with this little rock."

Maccabeus turned to one of his officers off-screen and barked some orders before the transmission was cut.

"Admiral, the alien ships have resumed their advance and are readying their weapons!" Lieutenant Gazda said after the transmission was cut.

"Continue evasive maneuvers! Get ready for Round Two, people!" Besart addressed the entirety of the battered defense fleet before switching to the internal comms channel, "Marian, are you there?"

"I'm here, Sir!" The AI appeared on the holo-table and said.

"What did you learn about these Xenos?" He said as the entire vessel lurched upward to dodge a plasma beam.

"Only the surface-level stuff, Sir!" She began her analysis, "Sif did most of the heavy work while we only tagged along to provide assistance. Their computers are fairly advanced but to our surprise, they don't have Artificial Intelligences or their AIs are not sentient as far as we know."

"That's not what I want to know, Marian!" Besart said as he gripped the command chair, his eyes were fixed the holo-table, "Can you tamper with their systems?"

"Not unless we are plugged directly into their systems, Sir!" Marian replied with a hint of disappointment in her voice, "Even without AIs, their cyber security is still effective enough to prevent remote hacking. We do have some good news though."

Besart cursed under his breath just when several APA warheads soured past the bridge's windows and toward the incoming plasma torpedoes. They were followed by another volley of Archer missiles.

In the distance, he could see the Waking Menace and the Frigates firing their MACs at the Covenant ships.

"And that is…?" He asked curiously, knowing that the AI was pausing for dramatic effect. It was one of the special traits that made the crew love her.

"We managed to extract and duplicate a considerable amount of information from their computers!" She replied with a satisfied smile on her face, "In particular, we got the general information of their history, member species, cultures, ship classes and their weapon systems, combat doctrines, and some other crucial information on the Covenant as a whole. We've also cracked the encryption scheme of their comms channels so we can monitor their communications, as long as we have probes close to their ships."

"Excellent, Marian!" Besart exclaimed. At least they finally had some good news out of this whole shit-show, "Send the package to Harvest Command, the relay stations, and the courier ships! Keep a close eye on their comms and notify me if they have any more surprises!"

"Roger…," Marian trailed off for a split second, then she suddenly screamed, "EVERYONE, LOOK OUT!"

Before they could ask what was going on, the entire vessel was rocked to one side, throwing everyone unto the floor. It took them a few seconds to recover, with Besart being the first one.

"What the hell was that?" Besart asked as he put a hand on his head.

He was surprised to see blood on his hand. He must have hit the corner of the table upon being knocked over by whatever just happened. Looking around, he could see Captain Frankston and the officers slowly recovering from that impact.

"Marian, status report!" He said and looked around for his naval cap.

"We've been hit by a plasma torpedo, Sir!" She said and updated the data for him. Besart was dismayed to find that four sections on the starboard side of the Boring Villager were missing, exposing the internal areas to the void. Any crewmembers unfortunate enough to be caught in the blast were as good as dead.

"The CMA Waking Menace has also suffered extensive damage to her port side and engines, Sir!" Lieutenant Gazda reported after picking herself up from the floor and reviewing the sensors.

Besart grimaced upon seeing the damage extent of the last Diligence-class Heavy Destroyer of his fleet. Almost one-third of the vessel was gone and entire sections of the ship were exposed to the cold vacuum of space.

"Where the hell did they hit us from?" Captain Frankston asked as he helped Besart get up and tended to his wound.

"From behind, Captain!" Marian answered and brought up the sensor data, "Their plasma torpedoes looped a wide arc and slipped through our rear flanks where the defense network is thinner. We've lost the CMA Some Negative Feedback and CMA Dawn On Subic Bay, Sir."

True to Maccabeus's words, the Covenant battle group now advanced towards the Human fleet with a renewed fervor, eager to slaughter the vulnerable Human vessels. He watched helplessly as the plasma torpedoes ripped apart the remaining Charon-class Frigates, leaving behind only the Corvettes.

Besart gritted his teeth in anger but he kept his composure and gave his orders. "Did you send the package, Marian?"

"Already did, Sir!" She replied.

"Then tell the station to send it to Reach and Earth immediately!" He said and wiped away some blood on his forehead, "Have the courier ships remain on standby and keep recording the battle!"

He then turned to Captain Frankston, "Keller, give me a full damage report, seal off the exposed areas, and begin evacuation of the areas with falling structural integrity. Leave a skeleton crew behind only!"

"I'm working on it, Sir!" Captain Frankston said and issued orders on the internal comms channels, directing the damage control and evacuation efforts of the ship.

Outside the windows, the fighter swarms on both sides continued to clash but the number of Human fighter drones was slowly being reduced due to the Covenant fighters' superior firepower. Since the starboard hangar bay was destroyed, all of the evacuation efforts had to be focused on the port and forward hangar bays.

"Admiral, there's something else you must know!" Marian reported.

"What is it?" He said as the paramedic tended to his wound.

"The Covenant have reinforcements incoming," she said grimly, "When we were monitoring their comms traffic, we found that another fleet was coming to reinforce Maccabeus's invasion force."

"How many more Covenant ships are coming?" He asked her, his voice now shaken.

"Thirty-five ships, Sir!" She said, "We don't have the exact date yet but their comms chatter suggests that they will arrive in one or two weeks from now."

At that point, the situation has truly become hopeless for the Human defenders. If they couldn't take down a mere battle group of this size, how could they possibly hope to take on an entire fleet?

Despite having such odds stacked against them, Besart refused to give up. His hands balled into fists and he gritted his teeth.

He examined the Covenant battle group on the holo-table. Beneath their designations, there were also the ship classes displayed as well, courtesy of Marian. While the Sinaris-pattern Heavy Destroyers suffered some damage, he doubted that they would be lucky enough to get the second shot in. The Battlecruiser and Landing Ship which stayed in the rear of their formation almost suffered no damage at all.

The three Ceudar-pattern Heavy Corvettes, on the other hand, suffered the most damage by far. Seeing scorched marks and melted armor plating in some sections of the alien vessels sparked a glim ray of hope within him.

"If we're going down, we might as well take some of them with us!" He thought to himself and began picking his targets based on the most feasible kill chances.

After choosing the targets, Besart turned to Lieutenant Snyder, "Michelle, connect me to the Waking Menace!"

Both ships have sustained considerable damage but their engines remained mostly functional, allowing them to evade destruction for now. Ship sensors showed that the Waking Menace was similarly evacuating its crew as the dropships began exiting her hangar bays.

"Captain Helmut, can you hear me?" He spoke through comms link as soon as the connection was established.

The line went static for a moment until a rough voice came through. "Yes, I … you, Admiral! That torpedo tore … hole… our side but… we're … the fight."

"How many Typhons do you have left?" He asked the Captain.

"Only twenty…, Sir!" Captain Garsevan Helmut replied before barking static-laden orders at the officers on his end.

"Fire all of them at Charlies Five and Six! Use all of your fighters and missiles to clear the path! Focus fire on their engines! We must take down at least some of them before regrouping at Harvest!"

"Copy… Admiral!" Captain Helmut said after a two-second pause, "We will see … at Tiara Station."

With things on the Waking Menace taken care of, Besart focused his attention on the current status of his own ship.

Due to the Covenant's relentless barrages, the ship has lost many of its external armaments and hull sections. Although the crew suffered four dozen casualties to that torpedo strike, the evacuation effort was going smoothly thanks to Captain Frankston and Marian. He breathed a sigh of relief as he watched the dropships and shuttlecraft exiting the ship's hangar bays under escort of the Baracuda fighter drones.

"Alvarez, fire the remaining Typhons at Charlie Four and Bravo Two! Focus fire on their engines!" He then turned to Lieutenant Ayden Hrzenjak, "Ayden, once the warheads are fired, head straight for Tiara!"

"Yes Sir!" Both officers said and carried out his orders.

"What is our plan here, Admiral?" Captain Frankston asked him.

"Take down some of their ships and haul ass back to Harvest! If we're lucky, we can regroup with the remaining ships and coordinate our attack with the PDN!"

"IF we are lucky, right?" The Captain emphasized his point, "With how relentless their barrage is, I don't think we will make it there in one piece."

A series of flash punctuated this point to everyone on both ships. The flash was from the intercepted plasma torpedoes.

Due to the Covenant's relentless barrage, the APA munitions were running low and they have begun resorting to using the drones to protect themselves. Instead of engaging the Covenant's fighter groups, the Baracuda drones surrounded both injured vessels like bees protecting their queen. Whenever some torpedoes approached them, the drones would crash into them in a suicide attack to buy more time for the pair of Heavy Destroyers.

After several minutes of intense maneuvering, the Waking Menace managed to fire all of her remaining Typhons and Archers at their targets, then she turned and made a mad dash towards Harvest's orbit. Similarly, the Boring Villager also fired her last Typhons and Archers at their designated targets.

All nuclear missiles were locked on the stern areas of the damaged Ceudar-pattern Heavy Corvettes and one of the Sinaris-pattern Heavy Destroyers whereas the Archers targeted the other intact Covenant ships to keep them occupied.

From the Covenant's side, the wave of alien fighters surged forward to intercept the incoming missiles. However, Besart noticed that their number was lower this time. This subsequently led to considerably fewer successful interceptions.

The Covenant ship commanders seemed to have learned from their previous encounter with UNSC's missile barrage since they decided to surrounding their ships with their own fighters this time. Unfortunately, they lacked the sufficient numbers and speeds to succeed in this endeavor as they were able to intercept only half of the missiles. The Covenant ships' laser point-defense systems tried to compensate but it wasn't enough.

Eventually, the warheads detonated a few hundred meters away from their targets, causing violent shockwaves, radiation and EMP to wash across the entire Covenant battle group. Their energy shields reacted violently until the fireballs engulfed the targeted vessels completely.

Besart and the crew of the Boring Villager held their breath with palpable anxiety as they waited for the clear sensor data.

Seconds that felt like hours passed but eventually, they had the results.

"Direct hit on all targets, Admiral!" Marian reported instead of Lieutenant Gazda, "Charlie Six and Bravo Two suffered complete destruction on their stern areas. Charlies Four and Five are effectively dead in the water!"

When he examined the sensor data, Besart couldn't help but smile in satisfaction to see the extensive damage suffered by the Covenant ships. The Heavy Destroyer designated "Bravo Two" lost many sections on its sides and stern, with the wing-like structures near the aft were melted into slag. While the vessel remained relatively intact despite such an intense nuclear bombardment, Besart could feel relieved that this one wouldn't go anywhere without its engines.

The aftermath was even more prominent on the Covenant Heavy Corvettes. Two of them lost entire sections of their sterns whereas the third Corvette looked like it was about to snap in half.

Unfortunately, it was the only meaningful victory the CMA Navy had that day. Even though the drone swarm and APA warheads were able to intercept the plasma torpedoes, they were helpless against the plasma beams.

Besart's attention was taken away by two plasma beams cutting through the void and striking the Waking Menace in her sides on the holo-table. The beams crisscrossed each other and tore through two-thirds of the CMA Heavy Destroyer as easily as hot knife cutting through butter. The beams must have struck her reactors as the Heavy Destroyer was consumed in a fiery explosion.

The massive explosion also took out the Baracudas attached to the ship. It was even bright enough for the Boring Villager's command staff to see through their bridge windows.

"The Waking Menace is lost with all hands, Sir!" Marian reported solemly.

No one spoke a word as they were too occupied with their tasks to care at that point. On the holo-table, Besart saw the Covenant warships, save for the damaged ones, were converging on them with their weapons charging up. It was like watching a school of hungry sharks chase down a wounded quarry.

The longer the battle dragged on, the more hopeless it became for the crew of the Boring Villager.

All around Besart, the crew guided by Captain Keller Frankston tried their best to keep themselves alive just for a little longer. Their shouting and the surrounding electronic noises now became nothing more than background noises to Besart.

Their missile armament was depleted; their drone contingent was reduced to near zero; the ship's engines were damaged; and the colony world was still a few light-seconds away.

It didn't even matter anymore.

Deep down, he knew that it was already too late for them.

Besart suddenly felt the effects of adrenaline wearing off and was assaulted by a wave of fatigue and stress. Luckily, he didn't stumble and managed to sit down on his command chair.

He then looked up at the ceiling in defeat and let out a sigh of exhaustion before calling out to Marian. "You should go, Marian! There's no reason for you to go down with us."

The AI appeared next to him and said, to his surprise. "No, Admiral! I'm staying with you."

He looked at her and was about to ask why when she gave her answer. "I'm close to the end of my service life anyway. What's better way to go than with a bang?"

Besart was surprised but he respected her decision.

"By the way, I already sent the message and took care of your wills as instructed, Sir!" She said with a smile.

"Thank you, Marian!" He thanked her with solemn tone.

"It was an honor serving with you, Admiral!" Marian said and turned to the forward window.

"The honor was…" He was interrupted when a plasma beam struck the upper sections of the Boring Villager. Two beams quickly followed suit and tore through the wounded Able-class Heavy Destroyer, sealing her fate forever.

As the flames and shockwave engulfed, the only thought that crossed Besart's mind was whether or not his family on Midgard would survive the war against the Covenant. Instead of regret and pain, he felt at peace and fulfilled.

Most of all, he felt tired.

He did his part, and now, it was time to rest.

When the Human flagship was gone, the Covenant battle group regrouped around their damaged ships instead of chasing down the remaining Human ships. Unbeknownst to them, Marian sent one final message to Harvest Command before the Boring Villager's destruction.

The Covenant was so drunk on their victory that they didn't even bother intercepting the message. If they had, they would have seen a simple and short message.

To them, it was inconsequential and meant nothing to their campaigns against Humanity.

To all the Humans and AIs who received it, however, the message ignited the flames that would burn for all eternity.

"BELLUM NOBIS EST, VINDICA NOS!"

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Afterword of Chapter 1:

There is nothing important in this section but my ramblings. This is the first HALO fanfiction series I've written so I hope you guys won't go too harsh on me.

In case you haven't noticed yet, there are many new details or changes compared to the canon lore of HALO. For example, the names of the planets in Epsilon Indi aren't clear in the lore since Harvest is the only named planet in the original HALO Lore. Also, the Covenant Landing Ship is a new addition of mine to make this series more interesting. Although the Covenant often use their Assault Carriers for planetary campaigns, I find it very strange that they don't have any dedicated ships for the role. Therefore, I decided to make one myself and called it the "Invrak-pattern Landing Ship".

For more details, the Invrak-pattern Landing Ship is 4,580 meters in length; 1,654 meters in width ; and 1,278 meters in height ; has limited armament and is designed specifically for long-term planetary campaigns. The ship is an older pattern vessel and was utilized widely by the Sangheili for previous conflicts before the Assault Carriers became the standard ship for planetary invasions. Therefore, the ship can maneuver inside a planet's atmosphere to land her troops. An Invrak-pattern Landing Ship can carry over 200,000 troops of different races, along with their weapons, vehicles, and supplies.

There will be more additions like this one so I hope you will stay with me on this series. If not, then I appreciate you for reading my chapter. Anyway, I hope you have a wonderful day and New Year 2025!

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Crucial Facts about this universe:

1) Barrows: The Planet named "Barrows" is the third planet of the Epsilon Indi System. Barrows is smaller than Harvest, has a thinner atmosphere than Harvest so it is incomtable for Human habitation. However, the planet is rich in terms of minerals and metals so the Unified Earth Government established numerous mining colonies on the planet and designated Barrows as the forge world for the Epsilon Indi System. Barrows has several automatic shipyards and many resource harvesting facilities on it.

2) Gladius: The F/SA-450 Gladius Multirole Space Fighter or Gladius Fighter for short is the mainstay multi-mission platform in service with the CMA Armed Forces. The letter "SA" in the name means "Space and Atmosphere" for the fighter's name. Gladius Fighters are atmospheric and exoatmospheric operation and can be fitted for myriad roles simultaneously.

3) Baracuda: The DF-370 Baracuda Fighter Drone, or Baracuda Drone for short, is the most prevalent fighter drone employed by the CMA and the UNSC. The Baracudas operate in large swarms to overwhelm enemy fighters and in some cases, small warships.

4) Deepdale: Deepdale is a Gas Giant and the Fifth Planet of the Epsilon Indi System with Harvest being the Fourth and Barrows being the Third. In the Epsilon Indi System, Humanity colonized these three planets and set up extensive orbital infrastructure around them, with Harvest as the center due to its status as the system's capital world.

5) Active Protection Array: APA or Active Protection Array is the general term referred to the defensive systems designed to protect CMA and UNSC warships from enemy guided projectiles. The personnel of UNSC warships often refer to this system as "Iron Curtain" thanks to their usefulness to protect warships from enemy missiles and torpedoes.

6) Hurricane: Hurricane Network or Hurricane refers to the network of close-in weapon systems, consisting of rotary cannons and point-defense missiles meant to protect military vessels and installations against hostile fighters and dropships. The two most common weapon systems of the Hurricane utilized by Human warships, both the UNSC and the CMA, include the 40mm Rotary Cannon (six barrels) and Havoc Missile Launcher.

7) PDN: Planetary Defense Network – It is the network of automatic and manned defensive systems designed to protect colonies from external threats. In most cases, the PDN is managed by a pair of Smart AIs who coordinate with an army of Human technicians, workers, and officers.