Mission 6: The Twin Moons (Space)

[Deleted]

Admiral Eric Klix
UNSCS Arizona
In orbit over UNSC Moon

The Arizona spun around, and the back of the ship was hidden by the moon. They were effectively "Moon"-ing everyone now, but the Admiral didn't notice. The instantaneous spin of the Arizona was a course correction as the Arizona entered orbit as the rest of the massive vessel disappeared by the natural sattalite.

The Moon was UNSC Controlled for sure, as the city was fairly visible in orbit. The Admiral sighed. "Where are the Covenant?" was the only question they had asked. He continued to watch progress reports from the deployments as the half strength 14th Tactical Combat Fleet deployed there troops.

The Admiral brought up the Fleets Numbers for the mission.

// Search Parameters: CAPITAL SHIP TONNAGE, NAME, FLEET ASSETS //
Arizona Class Heavy Cruiser, UNSCS Arizona
Marathon Class Cruiser, UNSCS Sratoga
Marathon Class Cruiser, UNSCS Passchendaele
ONI Prowler Class, Eagles Shadow
Five Destroyer Class Vessels
Ten Frigate Class Vessels
(( OOC: If I forgot you, please PM me and I'll edit this part. ))

The Admiral signed. Twenty Two Warships. It was a formidable feet, with a backbone of three Cruisers. But, it all depended on what they went up against, and how many their where.

"Dino, your actively scanning the sections for slip-space ruptures, right?" The Admiral asked. "Yes, Admiral. I have completed two scans already, and have started my third sweep. All results are inconclusive and inconsistent. No slip-space ruptures have been detected so far." The A.I replied.

"Thanks." The Admiral said, as he watched the holographic deployment update. Ships went towards multiple areas, with ships dubbed as "Building Material" went towards the Covenant Controlled Moon.

[kuran]

Admiral Daniel Yakamura
Office of Naval Intelligence Director
UNSCS Eagle's Shadow
Orbiting UNSC Moon

The Shadow drifted off the port bow of the fleet's flagship, the Arizona, looking as if it had no place in a combat fleet. It was, while large, smaller than even the frigates and destroyers that made up a portion of the fleet. It lacked even a small MAC, the principal weapon for anti-Covenant operations. Indeed, while it had swooping wings, was painted all black, and generally resembled a bird of prey in every aspect, the fact of the matter was that the Eagle's Shadow simply didn't compare to the other ships in the fleet.

Nor was it supposed to, for that matter. The Prowler-class corvette was, in fact, designed specifically to look small and unimportant on those occasions that it was seen at all. The ship sported no real offensive armament, save a pair of Shiva tubes on the prow. It carried minelaying equipment, which was it's principal armament in addition to the most advanced sensors, detection equipment, electronic warfare systems, and stealth generators that money could buy.

The recently promoted Admiral Daniel Yakamura sat on the bridge of all of this, surveying the tactical displays set before him and reflecting, with a hint of a smile on his face, the path his career had taken to lead him here. It was rare, supposedly, for a director to be in the field. But times had changed over the years, and Daniel had been a combat Captain for several decades. It simply wasn't in him to fly a desk, no matter how much they had tried to persuade him to do so.

"Signal the Arizona," He directed towards the comms station, who's operator nodded an affirmation. Most of his original bridge crew were gone, to be replaced by new recruits, such as the comms operator. It was just another aspect of his life that had been erased over the recent months and years. Even his original AI, Dawn, who had been transferred from ship to ship with him, was gone, retired before rampancy. He was alternatley relieved and saddened by the fact. Saddened because Dawn had almost been a friend to him. Relieved because she had reminded him too much of his late wife. He would always remember her, he didn't need her face staring at him every day. "Inform Admiral Klix that unless he wishes our presence, we will be conducting a scouting operation on the Covenant base. Then power the engines, rig for silent running, and put us on a course to put us in orbit above the base."

[Bippwatt]

Commander Sabrina Lansorson
UNSCS Quoth the Raven
In orbit over UNSC Moon
15.5 kilometers to port of UNSCS Arizona

Quoth the Raven settled into her given position in the formation, taking up the mantle of Lead Frigate.

Sabrina had not been expecting that kind of honor. Especially after the last stunt she had pulled with Captain Matvey Borislavich Galina on her last mission.

And, of course, she was tucked right up underneath Passchendaele now....how luck strikes.

"Carol, we're scanning for Slipspace ruptures, correct?"

"Yes, ma'am. Continuous and through.", Lieutenant Carol Mathison said promptly. "I got anything from a speck of dust to a Covenant Carrier on this baby. Nothing's getting by me."

"Good. I want hourly up-" An alarm went off.

"Slipspace rupture! Five thousand klicks. Definate Covenant design!"

"Come to Condition One! Charge MAC and link defense nets with the fleet." That last should already be done, but it never hurt to make sure.

"Condition One is set. MAC is charging. Defense Nets are linked."

"Wait." Ensign Orson Scott grinned. "Listen to this, ma'am!"

"What?", Sabrina said, seeing his look of awe and 'Oh, my god, this is so cool.'

Trierarch Cale 'Ahydmai
HNV Relinquisher of Lies
In Slipspace, En Route to UNSC Moon

"Slipspace exit in fifteen ticks, Trierarch."

"Thank you, Minor 'Dramasai.", Cale said formally.

The fifteen ticks clicked over. The slight jerk at the midsection as the ship downtranslated into normal space made him take a sharp breath, as always.

"Human fleet in view.", Major Valn 'Vornalai said. "I can detect 3 of their cruisers, five destroyers and ten frigates."

"By the lies of the prophets, I hope they have reinforcements coming.", Major Ealam 'Ahydm said fervently.

"They do. Us.", Cale said promptly."Prepare to transmit a message to them."

Commander Sabrina Lansorson

"Human fleet, this is the HNV Relinquisher of Lies. We come ahead of our other forces to warn you of their impending arrival. Shipmaster Phma 'Refumai seemed to think an automatic reaction would be much less likely to react to one ship than three.", the alien voice said.

"Well, this suits me right down to the ground!", Lieutenant Cathy Baker said with insane cheerfulness.

"Much as I hate to agree with such a cheerful demenor,", Lieutenant Commander Jason Nesmith said with forced calm. "I have to concur."

"Indeed. I find myself liking it as well." Sabrina said with a grin. She could see why Orson had been so happy and cheerful.

"Well, at least I don't have to word the response to them!", Sabrina said. "I am not a diplomat!"

"Say....that ship looks really familiar....", Captain Frank Jenson, the Raven's marine commander said quietly. "I could swear I saw it....no....it can't be the same one, can it? That was years ago and the EMP had to have fried it's little kitty brain....." He almost seemed to be talking to himself.

"Uh, Frank?" Sabrina was a bit worried. He was never this...spacey, no pun intended.

"Yes, ma'am?" He instantly snapped out of his fugue and his eyes cleared. "Sorry. Spaced there for a moment."

"I know. Is...I hate to ask this, Frank, but is this going to be a problem?"

"Uh......." He seemed to pause for a moment. "If I'm wrong, then no ma'am, it will not. If I'm not.....it very well could be, ma'am."

"I appreciate the honesty. But what are you talking about when you say right or wrong?" Sabrina was now really worried. Frank never had a vague answer to one of her questions and he never gave pause when answering them.

"Ma'am, when I was a wet behind the ears Lieutenant, I was assigned to a frigate way out in the Aldebaran system. It was attacked by a Covenant SDV Heavy Corvette baring a remarkable resemblance to that one. I survived by fluke of having been returning from a practice insertion on the minor colony. My platoon and the two pilots were the only survivors and by the time any reinforcements came, half my platoon was gone and both pilots were as well."

He paused. "I watched the Corvette drop OBW/T after OBW/T onto the small cities and towns the planet boasted. And I could do nothing about it. Ma'am, if that Corvette is the one and it's still commanded by the same....person, you are going to have to relieve me of my command and put Lieutenant Trakely in temporary command, because my judgement will be compromised."

Sabrina digested all of this....and mentally shook her head. And then his last words sunk in. She bit off her protest. If he thought he would be compromised, he likely would be. "I will take that into advisement. Lieutenant Trakely, eh? If it becomes an issue, I'll look into it."

"Thank you, ma'am. I will try to get you an answer soon."

[Deleted]

Admiral Eric Klix
UNSCS Arizona
Over UNSC Moon

The Admiral found his self overly frustrated with the new message from the new Heretic Vessels that slip-spaced in. For five years they where allies, and the majority of the UNSC already knew about them. Hell, they've been on the surface of New Alexandria, seen defenses around Reach and have gotten fleet number reports. They wouldn't betray them, and the Admiral found himself a good friend of Phma's, or at least he though.

The Admiral grew increasingly frustrated when one of his fleets Frigate has started to charge their primary weapons before they even exited slip-space, or that's what the sensors were showing. The Admiral almost broke out in a rage when he found out it was his Frigate lead. Has she not read the reports! The Admiral yelled in his mind.

"It is possible, Admiral. I picked up heretic signatures the moment the outlines slowed down, I picked up UNSC transponders on the long range scanners. It could have been an error with Commander Sabrina Lansorson Frigate's Artificial Intelligence." Dino, the latest generation SMART A.I replied.

"Open the COMM channel to that vessel." The Admiral ordered quickly. The communication operator hit some keys, but in an access code and the channel was open. She nodded. "This is Admiral Klix of the UNSCS Arizona, thanks for showing up, but you do realize your vessels are painted in UNSC friend or Foe tags?" The Admiral said, and remembered the Frigate's charging MAC. "Ignore the Frigate's MAC. I'll look into the bridge crew and AI later why they didn't see your UNSC identity. Welcome to the Ferret Chi System." The Admiral said, as he cut the channel. The Communication officer opened the reply one way, but they wouldn't be able to hear anything that was from the Arizona.

The Admiral watched the status update, and three Heretic Vessels popped up on the holographic tables around the bridge. Lead by a CCS-Class Battle Cruiser, the Heretic Fleet was starting to improve, compared to the reflectively small corvette they had when the alliance first started. That, the Admiral was starting to get proud about. The alliance was growing, as well as the trust between the two forces. Hell, he even saw a few elites on the Arizona a few days prior to the operation playing poker with a few Marines.

[Cabel]

[Fleet Formation: In orbit of the UNSC Controlled Moon: UNSCS Passchendaele: Bridge]

“Short range scanners have detected three vessels of Covenant design exiting a slipspace rupture matching the dimensions of two SDV Class Heavy Corvettes, and a single CCS-Class Battlecruiser. The IFF beacons register them as allies, belonging to the Heretic Fleet and one of the corvettes as the Relinquisher of Lies,” Lieutenant Louise Denrae reported from the communication’s station.

“Commander Qelar, can you confirm the IFF Beacons?” Captain Matvey Borislavich Galina asked, from where he stood hovering over the situational table with its holographic projections.

“Aye, Aye, Sir,” Commander Alice Qelar replied, before checking the readings at the primary weapon’s console. “The readings from the IFF signatures are confirmed. The ships belong to the Heretic Fleet led by the HNV Relinquisher of Lies, commanded by Trierarch ‘Ahydmai,”

“Submit the dimensions of those ships, with the status of allies into the tactical database. I don’t want to be responsible for hulling those ships,” Matvey ordered. As with nearly everyone within the UNSC, he understood the need for as many allies as humanity could find at this time in the war. The notion the Heretic Fleet had dispatched several of its valuable assets to this system to reinforce the UNSC in holding the line meant even their former enemies knew the stakes were far higher, and that this operation had to result in a victory.

[Bippwatt]

Commander Sabrina Lansorson

A few moments later, Sabrina suddenly wondered something.

"Hal..."

"Yes, Commander?", the AI responded gravely.

"I just remembered the reports that HIGHCOM sent out...Heretic ships are supposed to have IFF tags on them. Why did our sensors not pick them up."

"Hmm. That is odd. I had not noticed that before." A pause. "I have identified the problem. The IFF codes we were given were corrupted when they were copied over and we have not actively worked with Heretic vessels in the last five years. As such, we did not notice the problem until now."

Another pause. "I have rectified the issue. UNSC IFF codes are now fully functional."

"Damn...it's a good thing nobody else had that problem, but....wow, talk about embarrassing.", Jason said frankly.

"Indeed. Alright. I'll compose a message to the Admiral. I'm sure I'm like to feel the heat of his displeasure soon..."

Quickly, she gathered the appropriate data and explained the problem. She ended her report with:

"While this was an unexpected technical problem that no one could have foreseen, it was my duty to insure that the IFF codes were in the computer and functioned properly. I failed in that duty. As such, I have discredited myself, my commission and my fellow officers. I submit myself to any and all punishments that you deem necessary.

Sabrina Lansorson, Commander, UNSCN
CO, UNSCS Quoth the Raven"

Trierarch Cale 'Ahydmai

"Indeed, Fleetmaster?" Cale was somewhat amused. "Then perhaps we should have a talk with the Shipmaster of this-" He consulted his databoard. "This Quoth the Raven...Perhaps he might shed some light onto how he might have reacted if we had not sent our message?"

The message was a secure whisker transmission to the Arizona, so no one else heard it. He wasn't an idiot.

As he awaited a response however, the other two ships flashed out of Slipspace and he cocked his head. He had not expected them for another hour.

Odd.

Commander Sabrina Lansorson
&
Captain Frank Jenson

"So, Frank...is it or isn't it?", Sabrina said after she settled herself down into a chair across from Frank.

"Uh....it is. I cross-referenced my knowledge with the UNSC database. Not sure why it didn't trigger when I got the report from HIGHCOM, just like everyone else did....but it didn't"

He took a breath. "Ten years ago, the CNV Relinquisher of Lies, a Covenant SDV Heavy Corvette, exited Slipspace in the Aldebaran System. They destroyed the Frigate there. I know the frigate got a nuke off, cause I damn near blinded myself when I was looking at the battle."

He got up and walked over to the water dispenser, put his bottle in it and began filling it. "The CNV Relinquisher of Lies had been commanded by a Trierarch Cale 'Ahydmai. And he is still the commander to this day."

"One commander for ten years?", Sabrina said.

"Don't forget that the last four years, he's been broken off from the Covenant Empire.", he said.

"Good point."

"Ma'am, if you want me to, I can try and deal with my demons myself, but...I would prefer it if you just removed a problem from the situation before it becomes a problem."

"I think....no...I know that the Frank Jenson I know is better than that. The Frank Jenson I know would not risk the lives of his or others men for some inane desire of revenge. That would defeat the purpose of such a revenge, for one. And for two, you don't need revenge to deal with your demons."

She paused. "I'm keeping you on active duty. I'll be informing the Admiral and asking his opinion, but not even he can force me to take the marine commander of my ship off active duty. If he really wants you off active duty, he'd have to reassign you."

Frank was silent for a long time. Then... "Thank you, ma'am.", he said. Then, a lot less formally. "Thank you, Sabrina."

She rose one eyebrow. "You're welcome, Frank."

[Deleted]

Admiral Klix
UNSCS Arizona
Over UNSC Moon

The Admiral quickly read over the report, and stopped at the ending.
"While this was an unexpected technical problem that no one could have foreseen, it was my duty to insure that the IFF codes were in the computer and functioned properly. I failed in that duty. As such, I have discredited myself, my commission and my fellow officers. I submit myself to any and all punishments that you deem necessary.

Sabrina Lansorson, Commander, UNSCN
CO, UNSCS Quoth the Raven"

The Admiral perked up. The Commander was irresponsible for what had happened. The Admiral didn't exactly know why the IFF Tags where invalid, they hadn't been changed in a long time. Regardless, calmer now the Admiral replied. He understood the situation.


"Commander,

Well the incident will be investigated, I am glad that your A.I had found the issue. However, the IFF Tags haven't been changed in over a year, as the vessels tags are literally implanted into the vessels hull, and more then one of them. I don't understand how you didn't get one of the multiple tags that are available. To be exact, multiple IFF tags are broadcasting from each Heretic vessel. IFF tags 04321 to 04350 are all designated heretic naval vessels.

Well the UNSC will investigate if there is a critical flaw with these IFF's, I highly doubt that all the tags where mis-labeled. The Arizona's sensors are picking up all the IFF tags. When this combat operation is done, your vessel will be held for a complete system refit.

No punishments are deemed necessary as this could be a system error with your vessel, or a lack of judgement.

Erik Klix, Admiral, UNSCN
UNSCS Airzona


The Admiral sent the reply, and signed. System error, it was highly unlikely but it could be possible. As for punishment, the lack of judgement if she had fired on the Heretic Naval vessels would surely have resulted in immediate termination of command, and probably an alliance.

[Bippwatt]

Commander Sabrina Lansorson

She read and reread the message...and almost let out a deep breath. Thank god for lenient Admirals. God help me if we had actually fired. That could have been...bad.

The commander's eyebrows rose that there was nothing about Frank...odd. Maybe that message got buried.

[Deleted]

Admiral Klix
UNSCS Arizona
Over UNSC Controlled Moon

"Sir, you do realize you have a message from Yakamura." The Comm's operator said, smiling. The Admiral spun around at looked at her. "Open it up, on speakers." He said. The Communication's officer tapped a few commands, received an error code, then typed them in again just to get the same results. "I transferred the message to your personal folder sir, and it's encrypted." The Comm's officer replied, eye-balling the Admiral with a slight smile. "But I tried to crack it." She joked.

It got a few chuckles from the bridge crew. "Keep trying, Lieutenant. I'll play it myself." The Admiral joked back. The message was just a text message, so maybe that's why the Lieutenant had gotten error codes, and his personal folder was actually encrypted by Dino, but it wasn't a big encryption, just enough so basic hackers couldn't get into it from the web.

The Admiral was breaking feet formation and doing recon around the Covenant moon. The Admiral shrugged it off, it didn't really matter to him anymore. He technically wasn't a combat operator, and was the lead of the ONI Navy. He could practically do what ever he wanted, how-ever, he was still under the 14th Tac Fleet. The Admiral still had some say, but dis-regarded it. Him and the Admiral were friends.

He carefully typed a response back with nothing more then his head through his command neural lace. "What you are doing is bringing in tactical information. Stand-by, I might want you to deploy those HORNET Mine-" The Admiral was cut off, and the message was sent as the sudden Klaxon's screamed to life around the bridge. "Status!" The Admiral screamed.

"Slip-space rupture just behind the Covenant Controlled Moon, two Corvette Class vessels, likely a scouting party." The Tactical Officer replied quickly. "Sir, we are getting reports that they are already deploying units onto the Covenant Moon. They are increasing there defenses." The Communication officer reported. The Admiral signed. "Scouting fleet that got a report that quick?" The Admiral said. He wondered if the jump was planned.

"Sir, fleet-wide long-sword strikes are inbound onto target." The communications officer said, as she adjusted her station a little and frowned, then a faint smile creased her side. "Get me Frigate lead." The Admiral said. "Aye' sir." The Woman replied. It took a minute because she had to balance that between ground communications and the Arizona's own Long-sword flights. "Channel is open to the Commander, sir." The operator said.

"Commander, take five Frigates and engage. Long range strikes, heavy MAC's." The Admiral said, as he cut the channel.

(OOC: *Cough* Covenant Fleet doesn't want to join this party? *Cough*)