Space Mission (IC)

[kartoffelfogel]

Assault Carrier CNV Triumph and Condemnation
Fleet of Injurious Might

Fleetmaster Geidr Svor 'Vrotalai stood in the cavernous bridge, pondering amidst the hubbub of orders and bustling. While there was chaos in the bridge, it was a controlled chaos--he would tolerate no other.

The full Fleet slowly approached the small Human world of Kholo. Their objective had been to glass the puny world...and only a handful of ships had been sent initially. One of those, the cruiser Extant Miracle, had suffered engine failure and crashed, its smoldering hull now vulnerable on the planet's harsh surface.

But now, soon, their ships would come to aid--and precious little battles had ever yet been lost to the Humans by a full Covenant Fleet. There was little that could stand in the way of over fifty Covenant ships.

And yet, as powerful as their space forces were, their presence on the ground was dangerously weak. They could not afford to rely on victory on both ground and space--they needed to conquer the humans on the surface from the sky.

So, the decision was easy. Still, Fleetmaster 'Vrotalai turned to his Viziers.

"How council the Viziers?" he solemnly intoned.

Automatically, Zealot Arir ‘Sendarai spoke. "Once more, Fleetmaster, I council action! We must blow past the flimsy Human ships and then deploy fighters and dropships to assist the ground invasion."

Zealot Kisvo ‘Kirvoree raised his voice. "I too counsel action. However, it is foolish to think that we should risk our own crews to assist the ground combat. We must let the warriors down there fend for themselves, and let them do glory and honor unto the Covenant!"

Zealot Q’Kor ‘Yanadee uttered his advice in sonorous tones. "As eldest among the Viziers here, and most experienced, I advise you to heed my words closely. While we have overbearing power in space--this is true--we do not have that luxury on the stones of Kholo. The Humans have also proven to be irritatingly...dedicated. While I, too, council action, I say that we glass what we can and allow the gods to sort out the rest."

The Fleetmaster twitched his mandibles in surprise. "You would have us glass the planet? With our own soldiers there? And with the holy Forerunner relic upon it?"

Q'Kor 'Yanadee bowed his head. "Only if all seems lost. We must insure our victory, regardless what takes place."

Geidr Svor 'Vrotalai turned. "Your advice is sound...but I pray I do not have to follow it."

"But our course is clear enough. We must strike the planet now, with all the power and the fury that is our birthright. We strike them and have done quickly, so we might sooner aid our beleaguered comrades on the surface."






Admiral Klix
UNSCS Arizona
Staging Area Alpha

"Sir, the last UNSC Ship is on formation. Slip-space complete." The Lieutenant at Operations reported. "Good. Message the Fleet Admiral, we are ready for combat." The Admiral replied.

Looking out his side window, the second ship he's designed in as many years, the "Marathon II Cruiser", commanding by his second in command, Rear Admiral Micheals.

"Ops. Open UNSC Channel Bravo, broadcast to all UNSC Ships in this system." The Admiral ordered. "Comm channel is up in five, four, three..." The Communication officer replied, raising her fingers.. Two.. One...

"Ladies and Gentlemen, we are in for a battle. I won't lie, we are about to face an enemy that has been taking our ground for to long. Today, we deploy... Not only to save the city, but to show the Covenant that the UNSC is something they should fear! You don’t get very far in life without having to be brave an awful lot, because we all have our frightening moments and difficult trials and we don’t have much of a choice but to get through ‘em, and it takes a lot of bravery to do that. We came here out to the middle of nowhere to keep 'em from gettin' their filthy claws on those civilians. We're not gonna let 'em have them! What we will let 'em have is a belly full of lead, and a pool of their own blood to drown in!" (Edited quoted from Canon sayings.. I think this is fine.. If not I can cut this out.. xD I needed something "Awesome" anyways.)

The Arizona roared to life, it's six thousand soldiers making a series of noises. "THIS IS IT!" The Admiral added. "Let's take the fight to the Covenant!"

The quickly divided the fleet numbers, currently, the 14th Fleet had:

Cruisers: Five
Carriers: Two
Destroyers: Ten
Frigates: Twenty

He entered a small fleet number and assigned them to different vessels, each with an even amount.

//FLEET ASSIGNMENT, ALL UNSC CRUISER COMMANDERS//
Per one Cruiser, there are two destroyers and four Frigates. This is your small fleet. Do what you can with them. Klix Out.

The Admirals fleet has two extra vessels, the Carriers in the fleet. But everything else was the same, and lead by the strongest warship in the UNSC Navy, followed by two Carriers, two destroyers and four Frigates, this fleet could have a formidable firepower.

"Comms, open the channel to UNSC Cruiser Commanding Officers." The Admiral ordered, "Channel open." The Comms officer replied.

"Stay in formation, you may have your own small fleet, but I'm not allowing you guys to engage targets separately, not right now anyways. I've updated the fleet rosters and the formation, most of you are in position." The Admiral said.

"We are deploying from behind the planet, so the Covenant Forces can't attack us without coming around. Once the deployment is complete, we all meet at Rally Point Bravo. We estimate they won't, but if they do MAC's are to be powered at full charge. I expect no naval losses in this deployment." The Admiral said, terminating the comm channels connection manually.

"Sir, we are moving." The Navigator responded. "Good, get our fleet behind that planet. Take a different approach, not head on. We need to deploy first, attack second. Tactics is what wins us battles. Weapons, SMAC status!" The Admiral replied.

"Sir, I took the individual effort and charged the SMAC when we were five minutes from exiting slip-space on her own re-actor. SMAC Gun is hot, one hundred percent." The Weapons officer said. The Admiral simply nodded, it was a risky move, but right now, hundreds of miles away from a Covenant Fleet, it was a good idea. Most UNSC Vessels were charging there MAC guns.

// TWO HOURS LATER //

The navigation through the system took a little longer then normal thanks to a route that took them further from the Covenant Forces and finally towards the planet, but they got there. If the Covenant was attacking or not, only sensors could tell. They were on the other side of the planet.

"Sir! We've completed the deployment." The Ops officer informed. "Good, Navigation, move us out towards rally point bravo." The Admiral said, quickly gripping his hand on the railing.

"No Covenant activity yet, but I'm positive they know we are here." The Ops officer said. "They do..." The Admiral replied, "Keep your eyes on your sensor readouts. If they so much twitch in my direction I want a SMAC round through there ship." The Admiral said, "Aye, sir." The Weapons officer chimed in.

"Ground contact." The Communication Officer reported. "Marines in the city confirm Covenant presence." She added, "Thanks, Lieutenant." The Admiral simply said.

"Fleet's moving to Rally Point Bravo, Admiral." The Navigator said calmly. "Good, get us there at full speed." The Admiral ordered. "Aye, sir. Pushing reactors to two hundred percent. Ship accelerating, we will reach Rally Point Bravo in seventeen minutes."



COVENANT OBJECTIVES
--participate in assault of planet
--form up in glassing formation, in event of emergency
--your first post should be with your ship preparing itself for combat

UNSC OBJECTIVES
--attack the Covenant ships
--DO NOT let them glass the planet
--your first post should be attacking the Covenant ships

WARNING--keep in mind, the Covenant severely outgun and outclass the UNSC. Your objective is to BUY TIME, not eliminate the Fleet. Once the Covenant ground forces are gone, the Fleet will leave--but not without glassing the planet first. Your goal is to distract, disorient, and disable--attempt to clash head on with the Covenant and die.

[kartoffelfogel]

Fleetmaster Geidr Svor 'Vrotalai
CNV Triumph and Condemnation
Flagship of Fleet of Injurious Might
In orbit around UNSC planet Kholo

Geidr Svor 'Vrotalai now stood, his full glory shining across his bridge. They were on a war footing now. The full might and power of the Covenant was now ready to burn through the shroud of heresy straight at their god-given gift.

But before the full wrath of the Fleet could be brought down...certain tools...certain advantages needed to be exploited. On the surface of Kholo, a downed cruiser held the key to a quick and clean end to the Human forces that were groundside...they only needed to grasp the prize in front of them.

He turned. Around him, the impending triumph of the Covenant rose.

He spoke to his High Shipmaster and second-in-command, Uredan 'Zakharai.

One sentence. One command.

"Call Reticent."

The High Shipmaster nodded.

The call went out.


OOC: Tin, Duffle, Huka, 999. Now is the time!

[Huka]

Inquisitor Til 'Muramai
Aboard the Assault Carrier CNV Triumph and Condemnation

Standing in one of the many halls of the CNV Triumph and Condemnation, Til was silent and still like a statue, holding his bladed staff outward, his ragged robes hanging from underneath his white harness, and intimidating to those who looked at him.

Just then the Reticent Lance was summoned. At last.

Finally moving from his spot, his taloned boots clicked as he moved past nervous soldiers, the torn tail of his robes flowing behind him.

Walking down halls, Til didn't speak not a word and disregard anyone in his way, who quickly moved from the assassin as if he was a moving plague. Maybe he was...

Soon enough he found himself between his fellow Inquisitors, all powerful and fearsome in their own way. Entering the bridge with their leader, R'ha Katolai in the lead. They stood in attention of the Fleetmaster.

[Dufflepud]

High Inquisitor R'ha Katolai
Aboard the Assault Carrier CNV Triumph and Condemnation

R'ha strode onto the bridge of the massive vessel, single pronged, saber like sword clipped to one side of his waist, and wide bladed dagger to the other. He gave a nod to his fellow inquisitors, before bending into a kurt bow, directed at the fleet master.

"You asked for me, your excellency?" he said.

[dave36464736]

UNSCS KILIMANJARO
Staging Area Alpha

[yellow]"Ladies and Gentlemen, we are in for a battle. I won't lie, we are about to face an enemy that has been taking our ground for to long. Today, we deploy... Not only to save the city, but to show the Covenant that the UNSC is something they should fear! You don’t get very far in life without having to be brave an awful lot, because we all have our frightening moments and difficult trials and we don’t have much of a choice but to get through ‘em, and it takes a lot of bravery to do that. We came here out to the middle of nowhere to keep 'em from gettin' their filthy claws on those civilians. We're not gonna let 'em have them! What we will let 'em have is a belly full of lead, and a pool of their own blood to drown in!"[/yellow] Admiral Klix broadcasted, his voice blasting over the comms.

David stood at attention at the centre of the bridge, in the eye of the hurricane as it were. Soon, things were going to be nuts, so David enjoyed the relative calm, although he had to admit he felt a bit of tension.

"Helm, push us to rally point Bravo, spin up the reactors to 200%. Match Admiral Klix's speed." David ordered Paris.

"200 %, aye" Paris replied, his fingers dancing along the console.

"Spin up Reactor 3, Warm SMAC to 50%" David ordered Kim.

"Aye, SMAC Half hot. Retaining charge with a loss of .125 per second." Kim replied, wiping his brow with the back of his hand, clearly feeling the strain.

Turning around and striding to his chair, David sat down, looked forward, extended his forfinger and middle finger and said

"Engage"

[Deleted]

"Admiral, our sister ship is firing. Long range shots, but still inside our effective range, outside of the 78 and 77 MAC Guns." The Operators officer replied. "Fire on the closest ship, pass firing solutions to Cruiser commanders to do the same, individual targets, preferably Corvettes."

The Arizona spun as it locked target on a Corvette just under 210, 000 KM away. "SMAC FIRING!" The Weapons officer reported. The deck shook as the massive weapon dis-charged, the white hot line of accelerated tonnage moving towards the closest Corvette to the fleet.

The round smashed into the shields, tore through the aft section and continued forward motion when it tore out of the Corvette, purple explosions lining the hall. "Hit them with our big guns... Comms, get the Fleet Admiral on the line!" The Admiral ordered, watching as the screens adjusted as the Covenant ship slip vertically down the hull where the SMAC round had hit.

"Channel is open!" The Comm's officer replied quickly. "Sir, we use our SMAC guns as artillery to soften them up. It works. We get the smaller vessels quickly, they have less vessels to use on our fleet. We've got the advantage here!" The Admiral said, waiting a response.

[dave36464736]

UNSCS KILMIMANJARO
En route to Rally Point Bravo

"Nice shooting Kim!" Dave called out, nodding with satisfaction as his first shot went slamming into a corvette, watching as the shields flickered for a moment, then popped and watched as the round tore through the midsection of the vessel, its reactor breached and ejected blue white plasma as the vessel detonated, showering its neighboring ships with plasma and shrapnel.

"Sir!" Archer shouted from his position. "Klix on Priority one!"

"Pipe it through!" said David.

[yellow]"Sir, we use our SMAC guns as artillery to soften them up. It works. We get the smaller vessels quickly, they have less vessels to use on our fleet. We've got the advantage here!"[/yellow] shouted Klix over the comm.

"Acknowledged!" said David, slashing his throat with his hand, closing off the channel.

"Helm, bring us to 045 by 045. Tactical, co-ordinate with the Arizona's Tactical officer, spin up another shot, target archer pods A1 through A5 to impact 0.5 seconds after impact of MAC round. Fire when ready." Dave reeled off.

"AYE!" shouted Kim and Paris simultaneously.

The game is afoot Dave thought, crossing his legs.

[Deleted]

Admiral Klix
UNSCS Arizona
En-route to Rally Point Bravo

"Sir, the Fleet Admiral has acknowledged your last message to him!" The Communication's Officer replied. "Sir! Getting cross feeds from the Kilimanjaro's Operations officer!" The Ops officer replied.

"Allow it, let's see what they want to do." The Admiral replied, nodding his head. In a few seconds, the live feed from the Arizona was streaming onto one of the Arizona's side monitors, with that, the Coversation started.

"Weapons, charge SMAC with our one reactor, don't cost us speed towards rally point Bravo." The Admiral said, "Admiral. Venting compartment one and two around the reactor. I'll continue to do this, but you need to be warned that it could damage our reactors, pushing them this hard." The Engineer replied.

"Noted, Lieutenant. Push them until we are five minutes out, return the reactor too normal levels once we've hit that destination." The Admiral said, "Aye, sir." The Lieutenant responding.

[spartan129]

Captain Dominic Miles
UNSCS Shiloh
En route to Rally Point Bravo

"Sir!" the Shiloh's weapons officer shouted to Miles, "We're almost within effective range!"

"I want both MACs charged and ready when we are!" Miles replied sharply, "The Admiral wants us to focus our fire on smaller ships first-Sam!" Miles indicated his AI, "pull up coordinates of an almost in-range corvette that isn't being targeted by another ship in the fleet, and get the coordinates to Irving." Miles knew that his weapons officer could make all necessary calculations once he knew what he was targeting.

"You've got it," Sam replied casually.

Miles observed the Covenant fleet, growing ever closer. "Irving," he said to his weapons officer, "once we're in-range of the target, fire the lower-port Archers, cue them to hit 0.5 seconds after the MAC barrage."

"Yes, sir," Irving replied sharply.

"Sir, we're in-range!" his Ops Officer said.

"Fire!" Miles shouted. He looked somewhat frantically at Irving, who keyed in a few codes, and-

The ship shook with the force of two SSAK-78 cannons, as well as the additional force of multiple archer missiles being fired. Miles observed the white streaks that punched through a Corvette, lighting it up with blue plasma-fire. The Archers hit it, and...it didn't seem like it would be doing the Covenant much good anymore.

"Sir!" shouted his Ops Officer, "Incoming plasma torpedos! They-" he cut off in fear, before stuttering, "They-they must have the same strategy as-"

His final words were cut off as a barrage of plasma torpedos hit the ship, and an energy projector cut straight into the destroyer's bridge. The hunk of metal drifted through space. Anyone on board who had survived the hits would suffocate within minutes.

[Spartan 999]

Special Operations Inquisitor Sorsa 'Xirsasai

Sorsa stepped quietly behind the rest of Reticent, looming like the team's massive shadow. If was nigh impossible to hear his steps as he walked into the bridge, still adjusting to his newly crafted armor. Grant it, the dull white armor with deep purple highlights and glowing crimson lights was better than his old armor, but it would take a bit of getting used to--like the dual energy kama's he wore his lower back, he was still learning how to be as effective with them as with his swords and greatswords.

Sorsa bowed to the Fleetmaster in unison with the others, mandibles twitching under his helmet. He stayed silent as R'ha spoke, arms folding over his chest as he listened closely.

[kartoffelfogel]

Fleetmaster Geidr Svor 'Vrotalai
CNV Triumph and Condemnation
Flagship of Fleet of Injurious Might
In orbit around UNSC planet Kholo

The Fleetmaster tilted his head, listening to his subordinate's reports. Apparently the Humans had been targeting the smaller ships in his Fleet. Typical tactics--dishonorably picking on those smaller than themselves. He would soon disabuse them of that notion.

But first, he still had other matters to attend to. Mainly the survival of the forces groundside.

He faced his charges fully.

"Greetings, High Inquisitor. You have my full confidence in the abilities of you and your team."

He turned, beckoning his Viziers to attend to him.

"And yet, at this time, it would be prudent to separate you. Four locations groundside require your attentions--it is a boon that four of you stand before me on this day.

'Vrotalai stood in front of Sorsa 'Xirsasai.

"Sorsa 'Xirsasai. There is a Comm Relay some distance from the main Human city. You will be deployed there to aid our warriors in claiming the prize."

He walked down the line of Inquisitors, dispensing other orders.

"R'Ha Katolai, our primary concern on this planet is our digsite--the treasure of the Gods must be claimed. Insure that Humanity does not win this day. Go to the digsite, and strike with the power and glory that is our birthright."

"Zyla 'Juluntai, your attentions are required in the main city of Kholo. Succeed in conquering it--rout as many Humans and Heretics as possible."

"Til 'Muramai, your task is of paramount importance. You must go the crashed cruiser Extant Miracle, and insure the safe return of the Haunt-class boarding pod that it shelters. It contains vital information."

"You will all be deployed via Orbital Insertion Pod. My Viziers have assigned launch bays for you. Go now, and strike. Tooth and talon."



Shipmaster Djath 'Gradaree
CNV Rising Hope
Fleet of Injurious Might
In orbit around planet Kholo

The pounding on the shields of the Corvette Rising Hope was not doing much for Djath's calm.

"Shipmaster! Our shields are down to seventy percent. It appears as if the Humans are specifically targeting us!"

Djath sighted. Just what he needed. But apparently, the news just got worse. His Master of Communications and Detection, Yrun 'Haidaree, kept up his stream of news.

"The Corvette Harmony of Thought is taking critical damage. They request a Choir of Seraphs for protective interference."

Djath snapped. He flew out of his hover chair and bellowed. "Tell the Harmony of Thought that all our Choirs are currently dispersed! We are spread far too thin as it is."

"Shipmaster, we are detecting a series of warheads en route to our location--"

"Evasive action! Reduce power to weapons and up the shields at all cost! We cannot be expected to fight on our own...are there no other ships capable of providing protective interference?"

"The CNV For Glory Born reports that it has just carved a Human Destroyer with an Energy Projector..."

"Irrelevant! Are their no other ships that can provide screen support?"

"Not yet, Shipmaster--"

Djath 'Gradaree knew when enough was enough. He swung his hands high above his head.

"Very well then! Tell the flagship that we have to draw back Seraphs and retreat. We cannot lose our shields completely. We are a fighter deployment vessel, not shield craft."

"Retreating, Shipmaster?"

"Yes! We cannot stay here. Tell them to give us another target to strike!"

The Shipmaster sank back into his chair. The battle might be going well for the Covenant...but it was at their expense.

[Huka]

Inquisitor Til 'Muramai

"For the purity and honor of the Covenant, I obey." Til said with a darkened voice that vibrated underneath his mask before leaving out of the bridge with his brothers.

The Covenant is tainted with heresy, the betrayal of hundreds of former believers have occurred over the past two solar cycles.

Sangheili, Unggoy, Kig-yar, Jiralhanae, regardless of species, they were all eligable to heresy. So they are Til's prime prey, the humans were secondary to him now.

But their Demons, titans in green armor that nearly rival Sangheilian armor. They were a different matter. These creatures were human, Til have faced one and killed it.

Despite constant disbelief, Til understood that they were equals to a Sangheili warrior. They had the strength, the speed, the training, and the ruthlessness to match almost any warrior in battle.

Almost.

Til walked into the launch bay and towards a orbital insertion pod. Two Sangheili guards kneeled to him but he regarded with a slight nod.

Releasing his grip on his staff, it retracted into a short and harmless cylinder, placing it next to his true weapon, and stepped inside.

Turning around to face outside, he crossed his arm ceremoniously, and the pod shut itself.

Remembering Legra's old chant, he closed his eyes, and murmured,

"Tooth and Talon."

Soon the assault carrier fired the pods toward the ground below.

occ: This is my input, you can still type your exit.

[Deleted]

(( OOC:Kart. Shields don't stand a CHANCE to the Arizona's SMAC round, so I'm confused on your post, regardless, I take it that the damage was dealt by Shiloh's destroyer. ))

"Sir, two CCS Class Battle Cruisers are in range." The Operations officer reported, also broadcasting to the Arizona's Sister Ship. "Good, let's get our gun charged." The Admiral said, "Weapons! co-ordinate with the Kilimanjaro's weapon's officer so they can take down that other Cruiser with there weapon." He added.

The idea, was to get both Cruisers disabled for the fight. Less Cruisers, less "Energy Weapons" they had, such as that laser that fired into the Arizona in the last engagement, from a much smaller ship. It was only safe to assume that it was a modification under the Captain's orders, but regardless, it was Covenant, and damn powerful. Luckily it was destroyed in the last battle.

"Admiral, the eighty is fifty percent charged!" The Weapons officer reported, "Not good enough, charge at maximum rate. Get the SSAK-80 ready to fire." The Admiral ordered quickly, "Aye, sir. Ten percent a minute!" The Weapons officer reported.

Five minutes later, the got was hot, but the two Cruisers had moved just out of effective range. "Propulsion reactors to full power, lets get these two Cruisers. Co-ordinate with the Kilimanjaro."

"Range, three-five-one Kilometers and lowering." The Operations officer said, slowly exhaling, small comfort that there weapon had more range then theirs. "Sir, we are in range! Three-Four-Eight Kilometers out, but it's gaining now." The Operations officer added.

"Fire!" The Admiral ordered, as the white hot round exited the barrel at 35% the speed of light. The round took over a minute to reach it's target, but once it did, the vessels shields popped, lurched to right.

The Admiral watched in satisfaction as the engine system on the CCS periodically turned off, then the rear end of the vessel bent and returned to it's shape, smoke drifting out of the entrance wound from the round had hit.

The Admiral assumed it was an internal explosion. The ship may not have been destroyed, but it was certainly disabled.

[dave36464736]

Aboard UNSCS KILIMANJARO
Approaching Rally Point Bravo

"Admiral! Arizona is sending us a firing solution, spinning up the mac round now!" Kim shouted out, his flight suit soaked in perspiration.

Meerly nodding, David looked at Nathan and said "I see Klix has a plan"

Grinning, Nathan continued plotting new navigation courses, his hands dancing across the data pad he was holding.

Looking at Kim, David stood up and strode over and bent over Kims console. "What does he have us aiming at?"

"The second Battle Cruiser here." Kim pointed with his finger at the display.

"Cunning. Disable the heavy hitters." David mused.

Snapping into true battle mode, David strode back to his command chair and sat down, barking out orders to Paris.

"Bring us back to original course. Co-ordinate again with Kim and then fire when ready!"

"AYE!" Kim and Paris sang in unison.

"FIRING" shouted Kim, as the hull resounded with a giant bang and lurch.

Watching as the Mac round streaked across the stars, David saw his sister ship fire almost simultaniously, its Mac round connecting with its target, deforming it and effectivly taking it out of the fight. Watching, David's MAC round struck true on the second Carriers prow and decimated its shield, blowing apart the bow of the ship, Causing it to list to port and connecting with another ship too close.

[tincanhitman]

Inquisitor Zyla Julantai
Aboard the Assault Carrier CNV Triumph and Condemnation

Zyla stood on the bridge, his eyes scanning the cold of space, when the Fleet master began to disperse orders, splitting his lance.

Zyla was not worried, he had done plenty of missions on his own, and preferred solitude.

"Zyla 'Juluntai, your attentions are required in the main city of Kholo. Succeed in conquering it--rout as many Humans and Heretics as possible." Said the fleet master.

With that command Zyla slammed his for arm into his chest, then turned crisply and walked into his own pod. Resting his back into it, and fitting his scythe into a crook on the side of hi seat, he prepared himself.

Breathing in his last ship bound breath, preparing for the taste of this new planet. He launched, rocketing towards the surface of the planet.

[Deleted]

Captain Adriana Dexter
UNSCS Sratoga, Marathon Class Cruiser
Rally Point Bravo

"Why do they do this? It's like they know..." The Captain sighed, as the sight of the Arizona and Kilimanjaro doing all the work. "Hey, ma'am. Honestly, the more things they blow up, the less I have to worry about being vaporized my plasma." The Engineer pipped up.

"Good point, Ensign." The Captain replied, leaning back into her chair. Not even the two Arizona Class Cruisers had made it yet, but the rest of the 14th was almost assembled. Further orders were to slit into two sub-sections, the Captain assumed.

It didn't make sense though, why did the Admiral give her two Destroyers and Four Frigates. Balancing the fleets out, she assumed. Regardless, it was about to end. The only ships still out of formation that she caught out of the glimpse of her eye was the two Arizona's and a Carrier providing assistance to the ground troops trying to retake the planet.

Nothing to worry about.

Admiral Klix
UNSCS Arizona, Arizona Class Cruiser
In space between Rally Point Bravo and Kholo

"Comms, get me a fleet wide channel." The Admiral ordered. "Channel open, Admiral." The Comms officer replied.

"New orders. Rally Point Bravo is now obsolete, the Covenant are retreating for now, regrouping. Cruiser Commanders with there separate fleets, break off and engage. I repeat, sub-fleet commanders break off and engage the Covenant." The Admiral said, "Don't charge them though, stay tactical and keep your eyes open. Klix out. I'll be sending Cruiser Commanders tactical information." The Admiral added, before the comm channel was cut.

He grabbed his data pad, and started to type, sending it to the Cruisers within the 14th's fleet.



// Tactical Options //
// Commanders, I've split the fleet into five sub-categories for a reason. My idea was to have the Frigates running run and gun missions, well the Destroyers provide assistance to the run and gun, well the Cruisers pick the targets off at a respectable effective range. I'm calling this off, but I'd like you to consider it. The fleet is larger then we estimated, and this tactic may not work. Do what you need to, Klix out. //

[Spartan 999]

Special Operations Inquisitor Sorsa 'Xirsasai

"Sorsa 'Xirsasai. There is a Comm Relay some distance from the main Human city. You will be deployed there to aid our warriors in claiming the prize."

Sorsa bowed silently to the Fleetmaster, then turned to go.

When he reached his pod, he quickly adjusted himself in it, trying to stoop low so as to fit better in the cramped almost-coffin. He put his burst rifle and needle rifle in separate slots in the pod, keeping his sidearms on his person. The front slid shut with a hiss, then seemed to hesitate a moment before firing the tiny pod.

Sorsa grinned in anticipation of what was to come.

[kartoffelfogel]

Fleetmaster Geidr Svor 'Vrotalai
CNV Triumph and Condemnation
Flagship of Fleet of Injurious Might
In orbit around UNSC planet Kholo

"The Humans are cunning. Now they are trying to take out our high-tonnage craft."

The Fleetmaster sounded almost appreciative, almost as if he was complimenting the Humans.

"But enough of this. We outclass them by far too much--continue on our strategy of eliminating the small ships. Have the Destroyers move up and fire in unison--let this take care of the small ones before we have our flagships go hoof-to-hoof with theirs."

"But first, how council the Viziers?"

Behind him, the responses came instantaneously.

"The Crusher of Indolence and the Indomitable Templar are likely to fall if we pursue this strategem. Are we likely to win without their help?"

"Aha, at last, the fullness of our wrath! Concentrated fire will rip a great many of their ships apart."

"Aih, that may be so." the last Vizier to answer, Zealot Q'Kor 'Yanadee, took care in making his point. "But should we let this happen, we will have no support in facing their higher-tonnage vessels. It will be our vessels against theirs, one Assault Carrier and two Reverences against their might. While we are likely to win...nothing stops the Humans from disabling our Energy Projectors and fleeing. While we might have victory, it would be a pyrrhic victory--we will be powerless to help our groundside comrades."

Fleetmaster 'Vrotalai bowed his head at his wisest Vizier's advice.

"Let us risk it."

"Fire."

Throughout the Fleet, the Battlecruisers...the Destroyers...the Reverence-class Cruisers...they fired. Some in twos, others singly, and in one case, three Destroyers fired at once.

The two CCS-class Battlecruiser near the thick of the conflict, the CNVs Indomitable Templar and Crusher of Indolence, absorbed as much damage as they could. Nearly totaled by the Human fire, the Templar was listing dangerously toward the Crusher.

The crash happened amidst the flurry of fire.

The Templar drifted after the colossal impact, the massive size of the ship, equal to that of the largest Human ones, swirled into space.

The Crusher felt its shields vanish, and half its starboard decks missing. It fired weakly, the remaining port weaponry feebly shooting.

While the loss of the Battlecruiser set back the Fleet...the Humans were paying the price.

One by one, each Covenant vessel gave a burst of fire. Often a single Projector would disable a Frigate--dual fire clipped Destroyer after Destroyer. The faster Frigates attempting run-and-gun missions came out better than anticipated--most escaped unharmed.

But the Missile Frigates? The Destroyers? They suffered the brunt of the blast. The concentrated Covenant fire crippled them. Waves of torpedoes washed over their hulls, setting them aflame.

Nine of the Destroyers were disabled or wrecked...nearly a dozen Frigates aflame.

The same damage that had cost the Covenant Corvette and Frigate in spades had now been loosed upon the UNSC.

But at the end of that castrophany...no Covenant vessel was able to fire.

Every blast had gone out.

While the damage wreaked on the Human vessels was astounding...the Covenant Fleet was left vulnerable to the major craft of Humanity.

The Carriers still stood fast.

Four Cruisers still roamed.

The Covenant had lost much during the fray...and now the Fleet attempted to gather itself.

Three CCS-class Battlecruisers gathered from Second and Third Warband.

The two other Flagships, the Reverence-class Cruisers Impending Doom and Embers of Honor formed up in front of the three Battlecruisers, forming a shape of a triangle that now only missed its point.

And finally, that spearhead, the glory of the Covenant...a raw, powerful CAS-class Assault Carrier, a vessel nearly five times the size of a Marathon, glided into position.

It was time for war.


OOC: That wasn't too much of a godmod, was it? I'll edit it if you want...

I just wanted to get those pesky little guys out of the way. Let's just say no widdle flyers for either of us. I want pure awesome.

I think we should instill a turn-based system right about now. Just to make things fair.

Also, keep things in perspective...I'm sorry, but the Fleet really is huge. Will you guys settle for simply disabling our Energy Projectors, or are you going to insist on destroying the Fleet?

Because, I mean, honestly guys...the Covenant should win in Space.




Ultra Domo Legra 'Adantee
Aboard stolen Phantom
En route to crashed CNV Extant Miracle

Knocking out the pilot had been simple enough.

The Sangheili had been taken by surprise, and Legra was strong and fast.

The fight had been short--he had restrained himself from killing the Minor, and had instead merely sent him into unconsciousness. He had improved from his days as a Minor--he was now a Hunter in all the definitions of the term.

He had not yet been given orders--and he would show up to receive them. He had another task ahead...one that lay in the hold of the Corvette Rising Hope.


OOC: Kuran, if you ever deign to stick your face in here. Since apparently your ship is not ever going to attack my Corvette, I'm just going to auto-Heretic.

[Deleted]

Vice Admiral Klix
UNSCS Arizona
In orbit around Kholo

"Admiral! They've all fired simultaneously. Fleet numbers are being turned in!" The Operations officer yelled, "What about the Fleet Admiral's fleet!" The Admiral barked.

"No damage, our ships were the only ones targeted it seems. Damage reports are in, we've lost seven destroyers and eleven frigates. Two destroyers are disabled, luckily they are behind us. They are attempting emergency repairs." The operations officer informed.

The Admiral sighed. "Lets get them with there shields down! Comms, open fleet wide channel!" The Admiral spat, as the communications officer nodded. "All UNSC Ships, return fire! Everything you have available, make it count! The 14th has taken massive damage." The Admiral sighed.

The Fleet Admiral's fleet still had strong numbers. The 14th received the blunt of the attack, almost all of it's small ton vessels destroyed. Well the Admiral's thirty vessel fleet still remained.

"Weapons! Status on the cannon?" The Admiral yelled, "Sir, charging at maximum rate. We are at thirty percent, increasing ten percent every ten seconds." The Weapons officer replied.

A Marathon Cruiser, to the right, the UNSCS Sratoga fired it's two MAC cannons, the two rounds nailing into the shields of a CCS-Class Battle-Cruiser, with Archers on pursuit. The purple lasers roared to life, destroying some of the incoming missiles.. More and more were destroyed, but with the shields down, the ones that did impact left the CCS Class Cruiser with multiple hull breaches.

Then the remaining Frigates and Destroyer fired, concentrating on two more CCS Cruisers. The combined eleven MAC rounds from the nine Frigates and Destroyer flew towards the two larger vessels. The rounds impacted, six on one CCS and Five on the other.

There shields popped and a few MAC rounds tore through the hulls. Smoke drifting out of the entrance and exit wounds some of the MAC rounds had caused, purple explosions dotted the hull. One completely blew up, into three pieces with floating debris around them. Good, navigational hazard now. The Admiral thought.

"SIR! Our SMAC is hot!" The Weapons officer nodded. "Target that CAS Carrier!" The Admiral barked. "Targeted..." The Weapons officer said, before the Admiral chirped up. "Fire Archer Pods A1 to C1."

"What!" The Weapons officer replied startled. That was 5, 000 or more missiles. "DO IT!" The Admiral ordered. "Have then impact point seven seconds after the SMAC round hits!" The Admiral added.

"SMAC Firing!... Archers away!" The Weapons officer added. The Arizona shook for a good minute as the primary cannon fired, followed by thousands of smaller external vibrations from the Archers firing.

"Payload away..." The Weapons officer added.

"Arm all SHIVA'S!" The Admiral ordered... "Launch two at the Covenant Fleet!" He added.

"Shiva Nukes away!" The Weapons officer reported. "Full burn." He added.

A massive payload was on it's way towards the fleet.

The space between the UNSC Vessels, and the Covenant Fleet was filled with white hot MAC rounds, almost fifteen thousand Archer Missiles and two Shiva Nuclear Missiles, which are larger, but faster then the Archer Missiles.

"Shiva course correction, bring it into the main barrage and into the middle of there fleet before the Archers hit!." The Admiral ordered. "Course correction confirmed!" The Weapons officer nodded.

In the distance, two large missiles rotated into the protection of the thousands of Archer Missiles, powered forward as it's burners turned into a white hot, almost like a star themselves, turned down quickly and continued towards the middle of the fleet.

"Detonate!" The Admiral ordered. "Sir, it'll take out half of the archers!" The Weapons officer informed, but followed the order. Two white flashed exploded into the bridge, as the two Shiva Missiles detonated.

( OOC: You did a huge "Destroy the UNSC Fleet" act in your last post, so I did a response.

Post is too awesome NOT to have some themes!
Theme One
Theme Two)

[jack]

Captain Rick Armstrong
UNSCS Orion

Rick stood at the tactical display on the bridge, studying it. He knew they were on a suicide mission, but he didn't care. It wasn't the first in his career.

"Sir! Covenant are warming energy projectors!"

"Helm! Arm portside thrusters! Fire on my mark! Ops, are the Covenant aiming at us?!"

"Negative, sir!"

"Helm, belay my last. Weapons, arm Archer batteries A and B. Get me a firing solution on that Covie carrier. Both MACs. Archers to impact 1.15 seconds after MAC impact."

"Aye, sir! Coordinating with A.I. now!"

A few seconds later, Weapons reported that the A.I. had a firing solution ready to fire.

"Fire on my mark."

Rick waited until the other ships were firing, then gave the order. Two MAC rounds and 120 Archers were on their way to a Covenant carrier. They were going to have a shitty day, especially since the Arizona had also fired their SMAC, Archers and two Shiva missiles at the carrier, but eventually they accelerated and detonated in the middle of the fleet.

(( Kill's edit: Fixed up something for you, hope you don't mind. I've sent you a PM about what I've edited. ))

[Cabel]

[In orbit around Planet Kholo: UNSCS Passchendaele: Bridge]

The UNSC Fleets had been decimated with the smaller frigates and the destroyers having taken the brunt of the casualties meant the UNSC naval forces had been at a disadvantage against the larger Covenant Fleet, but the surviving units of the 14th Tactical Response Fleet and the Alpha Fleet could still smooth out the odds. Cohesion and communication had both factored into the survival of the remaining units, and while the aristocratic-born officer from St. Petersburg bit back clear annoyance of the deployment of forces at the onset of the engagement his mind worked through multiple calculations. Despite the faltering of the battle lines with the lack of foresight, the engagement had not been fully decided.

“Very well,” Matvey replied. “Tactical,…Commander Qelar, what’s the status of the main cannons?”

“The primary cannon is at ninety-percent charge, while the secondary cannon is fully charged,” Alice reported.

“Grand. Prepare a firing solution for the ARCHER pods port bow and port starboard. Alert me when you have a solution,” the Passchendaele’s Captain ordered, before tapping in a text in the mini-pad on the arm of his command chair. Submitting the text, he’d programmed it to be sent directly to the Farraday Cage and Nadezhda’s core.

“Aye, Sir,” Alice reported, calculating the firing solution for the ARCHER pods. “Solution primed. Primary cannon is fully charged,”

“Target the CAS Carrier, with a full barrage from the secondary cannon and the starboard-bow ARCHER pods. Helm, prepare ventral and bow emergency thrusters for a ten second burn. Angle our bow at four degrees bearing zero-zero-four by one-eight-six, and plot a course at full flank speed,” Matvey explained.

“Aye, Sir,” came the reply from Lieutenant Michaels at the Navigation’s station.

“Tactical, after the first barrage from the secondary cannon and the starboard bow pods have cleared the hull target the nearest Covenant ship with the primary cannon. Program the port-bow pods to follow the same target,” the aristocratic-born Russian officer ordered. “Helm, as soon as both our attacks are clear of the hull, set port emergency thrusters to burn long enough to bring us about to bearing one-eight-zero by zero-zero-zero at full thrust. I want the Covenant to believe we are heading on an out-bound vector,“ Matvey ordered, hoping his Covenant counterparts would be so eager to cut open their hull plating they‘d slip into their trap.

“Aft Pods are to target the remaining Covenant ships at full saturation effect, and when the missiles impact on their hull I want a ten second burn of the ventral and bow thrusters to bring us to bearing zero-zero-zero by one-eight-zero. Bring the starboard reactor to full and channel it to recharge the cannons. I want whichever of those Covenant ships comes after us to meet a near point blank barrage of two MAC rounds and the remaining bow ARCHER pods,” He knew if the plan worked after the initial barrages against the main mass of the Covenant Fleet, one of the Covenant ships would if his counterpart proved impulsive enough to follow them it would prove the counterpart’s last order.

“Detecting the signals of two SHIVA warheads. Signal tags identify the warheads as having been part of the Arizona’s assigned arsenal,” Commander Alice Qelar reported from the primary’s weapon’s station.

“Plotted course?” Captain Matvey Borislavich Galina asked, standing several feet from the command chair.

“The SHIVA warheads are on a plotted course slated for the bulk of the Covenant Fleet. Estimated time until detonation is…” Alice began, as two intense white explosions, flares emanated from the largest concentration of enemy ships and with it a shockwave that could knock out every electronic equipment onboard.

“Lock down your stations, and implement EMP shielding. Polarize the external cameras,” Matvey ordered, before turning to face Nadezhda’s chosen avatar hovering over a holopedestal nearby. “Fall back to your core, and brace for a two hundred megaton shockwave. I’ll send you the signal when the radiation has thinned, and Nadezhda, do be careful,”

“You worry too much, Matvey, but I appreciate it. I’ll be waiting for your signal,” Nadezhda replied, before the avatar dematerialized back into the holopedestal prior to the device’s shields locking in place. Throughout the ship, the connections of Nadezhda’s subroutines withdrew into the armored Farraday Cage containing the computer core deep inside the Passchendaele’s armored hull.

The deck listed as the shockwave emitted from the two hundred-megaton SHIVA warheads slammed into the Marathon cruiser’s armored hull sending several crewmen that hadn’t been quick enough to take hold of their stations to slam into nearby bulkheads, and forced the crewmen remaining at their stations to return to some of the tasks at hand.

“Have a Corpsman, any Corpsman report to the bridge,” Matvey said, regaining his own balance. “Report. I want a full report of the condition of your stations,”

“Main Engineering checks out in the green,” Lieutenant Commander Harold Kanter reported from his station at the bridge’s Main Engineering console.

“Operations checks out,” the Lieutenant Commander at the Operations station reported before each station reported in the green. The shockwave from the SHIVA warheads had jostled the ship, but aside from a few cases of adrenaline rush, sprained muscles and nerves the Passchendaele’s crew had come through.

[Wax™]

Rear Admiral Jonathon 'Ricket' Michaels
14th Tactical Response Fleet: UNSCS Athenian
By the planet Kholo: Bridge of the UNSCS Athenian

The UNSCS Athenian had not seen much of the fight yet but she had heard of it, the Covenant Fleet had devastated the UNSC fleet without remorse and it was time to tie their message back up with a pretty pink bow and shove it back up their ass where it belongs, Jonathon had been pacing back and forth on the bridge while his crew were hard at work, he was interrupted from his thoughts and his gentle back and forth pace by the familiar sound of the ships second in command, Captain Tahlee Goodwin.

"Admiral..." Goodwin said as she lent over her terminal. "The UNSCS Arizona are arming their SHIVA's and firing two at the Covenant fleet"

Jonathon smirked and turned his head to the weapons officer.

"Lieutenant... Arm all of our SHIVA warheads and fire two at the Covenant fleet, put them on full burn to match the speed of Admiral Klix's move"

"Aye Sir"

With a swift few movements at the controls of the weapons officer's computer the UNSCS Athenian fired two of it's SHIVA's on full burn towards the Covenant Fleet about five seconds behind Admiral Klix's SHIVA's that were fired seconds before Jonathon gave the order, Jonathon watched the four SHIVA's float through space at a fast rate towards the Covenant Fleet before turning away from the window at the front of the ship and relaying some orders.

"Goodwin close the blast shield for the window and dampen all screens on the external cameras facing directly at the Covenant Fleet"

"Aye"

Jonathon watched as the external blast shield fell down in front of the main window, Jonathon then made his way back to the command chair and watched all the forward cameras as their screen's suddenly became a shade of black due to the dampening systems, a few moments past and two white splotches of white and fire appeared on the external cameras display's followed by an extra two white splotches, the SHIVA's that had been shot from the UNSCS Athenian, Jonathon gripped a hold of his chair tight.

"Brace for the shock-wave"

He said as he continued to watch the cameras.

[kuran]

Rear Admiral Daniel Yakamura
UNSCS Spirit of Reach
In low orbit over Kholo


"Sir, Alpha one reports that the airstrike has been successful, the Scarab is destroyed," The comms officer, Ensign Shizuka, announced.

"Very well, recall the fighters. Mister Fyre," He declared, addressing the navigation officer. "Plot a course at best speed to take us to orbit with the rest of the fleet, and send those calculations to Dawn."

"Aye sir." Came the response from both the Officer and the AI.

The ship began to move, and Daniel watched the curve of the planet below slowly shift downwards out of sight as the nose began to point upwards, heading for orbit.

"Sir!" Came an alarmed cry from the AI, which looked distinctly surprised within the holotank next to Daniel's chair. "Nuclear detonations detected, consistent with Shiva-class warheads. The Covenant fleet has been hit!"

Daniel looked up at the tactical display, at the positions of the fleets in orbit, with the rapidly expanding spheres representing the effects of the nuclear detonations. A small timer at the edge of the display ticked down.

TIME TO IMPACT: 43 SECONDS

"Damn...how long until the longswords are docked?"

"Seventeen seconds sir." Came the reply from the comms station.

Daniel bit back a curse. "Begin EMP countermeasures. Longswords are to haul arse, combat landings. Secure them as soon as possible." The pilots wouldn't be happy, their landings would be rough. His orders were acknowledged, and the next few seconds were reasonably quiet.

"Fighters docked sir!" Cried Shizuka from her seat.

TIME TO IMPACT: 21 SECONDS

"Excellent." Daniel replied. "Activate all EMP hardening measures now!"

A moment of silence, and the ship went dark. All displays winked out as they slammed into standby mode, preventing them from being disabled or destroyed by the impeding ElectroMagneticPulse. They waited in silence, each member of the bridge crew counting down the seconds. The only lighting was provided by the stars as the ship continued to power towards a rondezevous with the rest of the fleet.

The impact came hard. The EMP and turbulence swept over the ship in a tremendous wave, and everyone braced in their seats as the ship began to shake. The rolling wave of energy sent them all shaking and shuddering, causing several people to almost fall out of their seats.

After another few moments of darkness, the shaking subsided. A moment later, there was a sudden illumination as the systems came back on line. Lights flared, computer stations returned to their tasks, and Dawn popped up into her holotank, hands on her hips and looking distinctly unhappy.

"Now that you've let me out of the closet...we will be rejoining the fleet in...three minutes." Daniel made a note to try and make the AI happy for a while- he needed her happy- and faced the Navigation officer again.

"Bring us into formation off the starboard of the Arizona."

"Aye sir" came the response, and Daniel paused a moment as the view swerved to show the closing fleet.

"Ladies and gentelmen," He announced to nobody in particular. "We just supported a ground operation, took out a large walking tank, and survived three SHIVA's worth of EMP and radiation, without..." He consulted a display to make sure. "...Any damage at all. That...was pretty fucking ninja of us."

The curse, uttered so calmly and matter-of-fact, was so out of carather with the normally mild Admiral, that the entire bridge crew burst out laughing, even the AI. Even if it was a bad joke, they were all on edge, and they all had to blow off steam.

Even though, they were just getting started with the battle.

[Deleted]

(( OOC: Kart, you've had eleven days to post. April 16 is when the PvP was initiated, it's now April 27th. I understand your busy, but you've kept up the entire UNSC PC list. This is a force post, sorry.

The SMAC I fired at your CAS Assault Cruiser disabled the shields and glanced off of the outer hull, causing a hull breach on the upper decks of the CAS. Your Defense Lasers destroyed most of the incoming archers, then the Nukes went off, pushing the remaining missiles off course.

All of your small ton vessels were destroyed or disabled by the 400 Megaton explosion, leaving your Cruisers to return fire on the Covenant Fleet... And they did. The Covenant fleet fired Plasma Torpedoes and Projectors towards the UNSC fleet.

Destroyers and Frigates went up in flames, exploding and some ceased to exist... Vaporized. This left the 14th Tactical fleet with no support ships, and only PC Characters and a NPC Cruiser remained. Alpha Fleet also took heavy casualties, loosing all but the Kilimanjaro and it's Cruiser group.

The Ships that remain in the UNSC group are
2 x Arizona Cruisers (Dave and I's ships.)
1 x Marathon II Cruisers (Wax's ship.)
1 x Carrier (Kuran's Ship.)
1 x Destroyer (Alpha's Ship.)
6 x Marathon Cruisers (Cebel, NPC for the 14th and four of Dave's Alpha Fleet. ))

The remaining UNSC vessels fled on top speed, using full reactor power to dis-engage. They were successful in this. They are waiting at the edge of the system, you did not pursue the UNSC survivors, instead regrouped. You out number the UNSC, outgun the UNSC and outclass the UNSC now. However, the UNSC has two Cruisers that support a SSAK-80, and seven Cruisers that support two SSAK-79's, a Carrier that supports the SSAK-79 and a Destroyer that supports two SSAK-78's. Attacking them would be foolish as they still have formidable firepower remaining. ))


"Fleet status?" The Admiral sighed. Out of sixty ships they came with, only eleven were still operational. It was a mess, and now they had fled to the edge of the system hiding until they got the message they it was time to either pick up the survivors or leave the system because their wouldn't be any left.

"Sir, you already know." The Tactical (Operations) officer replied, "We've lost all Frigates, all but one Destroyer and a few of the Carriers and Cruisers. All we've got left are the Passchendaele, Spirit Of Reach, Sratoga, Athenian and the Orion. Including us, that leaves six ships in the fourteenth tactical still operational. The Fleet Admiral's fleet is down to all Cruisers. Four Marathon's and the Kilimanjaro. In other words, we were defeated." The Tactical officer replied.

"Damage?" The Admiral asked. "We caught a plasma torpedo and we've got a chassis of a Destroyer locked into our lower sections. Hull breaches in multiple area's. SMAC gun is offline, engineers are repairing a minor electronic error from the SHIVA's EMP." The Engineering officer replied.

"We've got a destroyer in us?" The Admiral sighed. "What was it?" The Admiral added.
"The Destroyer that's locked into our superstructure was the UNSC Griggon."
"Can we push her out. It'll cause structural stress on the lower sections if we don't."
"Negative sir, she's wedged pretty in pretty hard."
"Sea-" The Admiral said, "Already did, sir. Decompression alarms are also sounded in the next eight sections and decks." The Weapons officer said. "Good." The Admiral replied.

This was a mess.

"Any other ship's that are damaged in the 14th?" The Admiral asked. "Our external scanners are not functioning properly. Probably some EMP damage, but from what I can tell, no." The Engineering officer replied.

"We just lost fifty one UNSC ships." The Admiral announced. "We need to stay here, pick up the survivors on the ground. Prepare the medical bays. Transform all Storage area's into medical bays and casualty collecting points. Transform hanger bays one through six into medical stations and refugee center." The Admiral said over the comm.

A few officers return to reply the generic "Aye, sir." responses.

The Covenant had won, but it wasn't over yet. By the Admiral's calculations, they still had formidable firepower with the ships they had left, but not enough to take on what was left of the Covenant fleet.

"Estimated casualties onboard? The Admiral asked sharply. The Destroyers damage had to do something internal, if it didn't, the Admiral's men were blessed... Until the Lieutenant spoke. "Casualty estimates have over one hundred bodies in space, another hundred suffocated from the damage, sir."

Two Hundred Casualties, plus the crew on the UNSC Destroyer sticking out of the Arizona. The Admiral released another sigh, something he was starting to do to much. The surrounding area was completely sealed, but they wouldn't be able to enter FLT without loosing a few decks.

"Navigation's! If we enter FTL, would how many sections would we lose from the Arizona." The Admiral quickly asked. "Admiral, we wouldn't lose much. When a vessel enters slip-space-" "I know what happens. Give me how many decks, Lieutenant." The Admiral interrupted him. "Right, sir. We would lost two to six decks, nothing that's not sealed right now. It will be a month or two in drydock. I'd recommend wedging it free." The Navigation's officer replied.

[Deleted]

(( OOC: If no one posts by May 1st, this thread will be locked so UNSC and Covenant PC characters can move on. ))

[Wax™]

Rear Admiral Jonathon 'Ricket' Michaels
14th Tactical Fleet: UNSCS Athenian
Edge of the system: 14 Fleet RV Point

"Ship status?" Jonathon managed to cough out. "Damage control hurry?"

"Admiral... The EMP wave fried half of our Archer pods so we can't launch them, the reactors are stable but for some reason we are facing constant black out's and power failure, our MAC's are operation but one of our engines is destroyed, we also had a chunk of a covenant ship fly off and land in our main hanger Sir... Sir in total, we are the most space worthy and undamaged ship in the fleet" Replied the operations officer.

"Casualties... What about casualties?" Jonathon continued on.

"Castualties are still coming in Sir" Replied the Operations Officer again.

"What's being done about this peice of Covenant ship?" Jonathon said as he stumbled over to his Command Chair and sitting down in it with a thump.

"We got fire and maintenance teams down there with most of our MP's and ship security." Said executive officer Tahlee as she pressed a button on a consol and brough up communications with Admiral Klix.

"Admiral Klix... This is Captain Tahlee, executive Officer of the UNSCS Athenian... What are our orders, what is being planned about the men we so blatantley left back on the planet without any support?"

Johnathon sighed and leant over to face the command COM, he looked at all the status' and the damage control he then consulted with the ship's AI Athena to asses the damage of the fleet, more than half of the fleet had been wiped out and who knew what devestation was going on back down on the ground, Jonathon leant back in his chair and rubbed his temples, this was a huge mess and it had hit the UNSC right where it's money was put, in Task Force 77, Jonathon began to think if this was TF77's last mission.

[Deleted]

Admiral Eric Klix
UNSCS Arizona
System Edge

"Admiral, incoming transmission from 'Captain Tahlee' from the Athenian." The Communications officer informed, her swift movement to the intercom was all clear it may be important. "Play it on the Bridge speakers." The Admiral replied.

"Admiral Klix... This is Captain Tahlee, executive Officer of the UNSCS Athenian... What are our orders, what is being planned about the men we so blatantley left back on the planet without any support?"

The Admiral straightened up, took a breath in. "Open the channel." The Admiral nodded. "Captain. I've got routes being plotted. It's not ideal, but we are down to eleven ships. Attacking would be foolish, and most of our long range scanners were knocked out by EMP or Weapon fire. I do know this, we are roughly fifteen hours away from Kholo." The Admiral said. "We needed to run, or we'd all be free floating particals." The Admiral added.

"I've sent a route to your ships AI." The Admiral said. "Get back to me on that route, I'll leave the channel open. Communications, mute our end for now." The Admiral said. "We are muted, sir." The Comms officer replied.

The Navigation had what was left of the UNSC fleet maneuver towards Kholo's moon, then split off and wait behind the gas giant about six hundred kilometers from Kholo its-self. Six hundred kilometers was still a long distance, but the remains of the UNSC fleet could provide evacuation.

"Un-mute us." The Admiral said. "Captain, I'm back. You have to realize that we can't provide support. We are outnumbered. We may have heavy-tonnage ships left but I don't see a way to get past what they have left. Our last scans show nothing but Cruisers and Carriers." The Admiral said. "Ones that can make a Arizona look like Swiss Cheese after an hour." The Admiral added.

[Cabel]

[Edge of the System: 14th Fleet RV Point: UNSCS Passchendaele: Bridge: Tactical Situation Table]

The holographic representations of the eleven surviving UNSC ships in blue hovered before him while the Covenant Fleet had been represented in purple with the embattled Planet Kholo a darkened grey, providing an all too callous view of the engagement. If it weren’t for the Planet Kholo and the size of the Fleets, Matvey could have been overlooking the skirmish of the Norva System. Studying the projections hovering only inches above the Passchendaele’s situation table, he contemplated on the reputation he’d garnered for defensive warfare since his days at the academies as data ranging from force projections to trajectories and estimated casualty figures scrolled in a smaller window near the table’s edge.

“Damage reports are coming in, Sir, and it isn’t looking good. Out of the thirty-seven ships of the 14th Fleet at the beginning of the engagement, only six remain operational,” one of the young lieutenants that had arrived on the bridge reported, after crossing over to the situational table.

“What six are those, Lieutenant?” Matvey inquired, not even looking up to address the Lieutenant or in breaking his concentration. While he knew from the real-time holographic readouts the six ships that remained in the 14th Fleet, and the five surviving units in Alpha Fleet, it didn’t hurt to allow the young Lieutenant to read over the reports even if it were for morale only.

“The survivors of the 14th Fleet are the Passchendaele, Arizona, Spirit of Reach, Saratoga, Athenian and Orion while the surviving units of Alpha Fleet are four Marathons and the Kilimanjaro,” the Lieutenant reported.

“I see,” Matvey muttered under his breath, and looked up briefly at the young Lieutenant to notice the young woman shaking from the losses. The veteran officer knew if a single Lieutenant had nearly succumbed to her nerves, his crew from the veterans to the replacements weren‘t that far behind. Reaching over to a small keyboard set into the edge of the table, the Russian-born officer submitted a few commands for the shipboard intercom system with the intent of laying aside the fears of his crew. He knew the decryption and dampening fields within the Passchendaele’s hull would prevent or even eliminate any possibility of the intercom frequency being overheard or detected.

“Crew of the Passchendaele. I understand your weariness, your fears, and your wonting to be anywhere except this engagement and they match my own. I will save you from the frills other commanders may address, that empty speech used to comfort those whom have no connection or familiarity to whom are the backbone of this fleet. You know I would never…have never thought of any of you, of the men and women that give it your all as anything less than commendable. I have the utmost respect for each of you, regardless of duties, and will continue to be honored to serve alongside each of you. You honor me, and let it be said on this ship no one will be treated with anything short of total respect. I know you are frightened, frightened that the Covenant to whom we have engaged with gun barrels until they have grown white hot to where the sweat burns your brow and for all our might, we seem to do little damage.

“Let me be honest, it is as old as the thoughts that cross our minds and the fear we harbor that a drop of water striking a rock in a single spot repeatedly will carve a tunnel weakening the stone. This is our ship‘s motto, the Passchendaele‘s motto, and it belongs to you. It has belonged to you from the moment you swore to take up the uniform, when you set one foot in front of the other to defend your homes. Crew of the Passchendaele, the Covenant is that rock and as they stand before us we will continue to advance. We will continue to strike them with our missiles, with our warheads, with our guns until those have been bled dry and only then will we force them back to cower under the very rock they crawled from,” he concluded, and closed the channel.

“You may return to your duties, and keep at them. You‘re doing a fine job,” he said to the Lieutenant, with a nod. Regaining his focus on the holographic projections, Matvey ran through at least a dozen simulated attacks and twice that in defensive maneuvers when the orders from Admiral Klix aboard the Arizona came through.

“Captain, the route proposed by the Admiral would leave the Fleet’s rear dangerously vulnerable. With the long range scanners having been damaged by previous EMP waves and weapons fire among the Fleet, navigating the proposed course with only short range scanners in a system with a heavy Covenant presence would be risky,” Nadezhda replied, having reappeared shortly after the Admiral had signaled the Fleet’s survivors to fallback to the edge of the system.

“That may be, but we cannot leave the men and women on that planet to the Covenant. What is the location of the Covenant Fleet?” Matvey asked.

“The Covenant Fleet has held position near the planet as far as the long range cameras can determine. I’m not detecting any increase in power signatures, but with the damage sustained by the survivors it could be in error,” Nadezhda replied.

“How many drones do we have at our disposal? Throughout the Fleet?” Matvey asked, not caring an iota for the situation. Without live feed from the long range scanners, the surviving Fleet units were at a disadvantage though the odds had been more in their favor considering from his own experience the Covenant scanners were far less precise than those utilized by the UNSC.

“The total amount of drones at our disposal is thirty-five divided among the Fleet,” Nadezhda replied, before realizing what Matvey might indeed have planned.

“That’ll do,” Matvey said, before bringing up the codes for the Passchendaele’s supply of Clarion spy drones. “Nadezhda, open an encrypted channel to the Arizona and prepare to transmit a text,”

“Electronic countermeasures are in effect, and the channel to the Arizona has been secured,” Nadezhda replied, the entire operation having taken only moments to accomplish.

“Title: Haphazard. Priority, Admiral’s Eyes: Captain Galina, UNSCS Passchendaele to Admiral Klix, UNSCS Arizona: A plan has been worked out, to use the Clarion Drones to double as the Fleet’s eyes in the proposed course. The details are in the attached file. End,” as Matvey concluded the text, using one of the table’s built in keyboards. Matvey had thoroughly worked out the specifics of the plan to utilize the thirty-five Clarion drones, gradually to aid in the defense of the Fleet and to grant them eyes. The plan called for the ships to launch a few drones initially to act as the Fleet‘s eyes, before the ships launched another wave of drones programmed to emit the signatures of a larger Fleet. If it worked out, the drones would fool the Covenant into believing the UNSC remnants held station at the edge of the system while the survivors followed Admiral Klix‘s proposed course. The other part of the plan, in which Matvey had included in the attached explanation involved the UNSC survivors to run dark without using their running lights to avoid detection leaving the efforts in maintaining formation to the individual A.I.’s. “Nadezhda, transmit text titled Haphazard and encrypt,”

[Deleted]

Admiral Eric Klix
UNSCS Arizona
System Edge

"Admiral, incoming transmission." Dino, the Arizona's smart AI informed. "Divert it to my personal data pad, secure it if it isn't already." The Admiral replied. "The message is secured, marked eyes only for you, Admiral." The AI said.

The Admiral quickly picked up his data pad. They were hours away from the Covenant now, but they could make pin-point jumps within the snap of a finger. Yet, strangely, the Admiral felt calm and collected, something that was usually forced.

“Title: Haphazard.
Priority, Admiral’s Eyes:
Captain Galina, UNSCS Passchendaele to Admiral Klix, UNSCS Arizona:
A plan has been worked out, to use the Clarion Drones to double as the Fleet’s eyes in the proposed course. The details are in the attached file. End"

The Admiral quickly read the text transmission. He understood what the Captain had wanted to do.

"Dino, give spy drone launch codes to the Passchendaele's A.I." The Admiral said. "Codes away, Admiral." The A.I simply relied, his holographic display faded from his holotank.

"Re "Title: Haphazard"
Priority, Captain's Eyes:
Admiral Klix, UNSCS Arizona to Captain Galina, UNSCS Passchendaele:
Understood. Permission granted. I've transfered launching codes from my ship to your ships A.I. End."


The Admiral quickly glanced at the damage reports. It seems like the destroyer that was inside the super structure of the Arizona was actually sliding outwards. The current projections weren't friendly though - Another four decks would be lost in the process. They needed to speed that up, but it wasn't physically possible.

The Admiral was still stunned at the loss of most of his fleet. Naval Brass would have his head for this. They were winning after the nukes went off, then they just fell apart. Ship after ship were destroyed.

The Admiral simply sighed, and waited as the navigational route slowly disappeared as the Arizona maintained it's course.

[Deleted]

M5 is now holding PC Players back.

If no one posts by 11/05/2012, this will be locked.