Main Mission: Arcadia - Space

[Deleted]

//Kxgo Uusolee
//Bridge of the CCS-class Battlecruiser Igneous Asperity


Kxgo had quickly enterted slipspace after receiving orders from the Imperious Eye, and exited near the Pious Charity. Already the fight was in the Covenants hands, but Kxgo wasn't going to let the battle go on without the Igneous Asperity getting her share of action.

“Zuka, prepare the torpedoes, fire all plasma turrets on the nearest ship, leave the Pious Charity's target alone. Deploy all seraphs to attack and destroy the Human starfighters. Leave none alive.”

Zuka answered in the affirmative, and Kxgo watched as the Igneous Asperity's turrets opened up, and the first round impacted the side of a Human Frigate, glancing it but still doing devastating damage, and sending debris flying through space. The Human ship turned and opened fired with the weak Human missiles, which exploded harmlessly against the Igneous Asperity's shields. Another barrage of Plasma blew the ship to pieces, but the MAC had fired just before the ship was destroyed. The round flew at an amazing speed, flying into the ship, ripping through the shields and shaking the entirety of the ship.

“Sir! That round obliterated the aft-port shuttlebay, everything within has been destroyed and pressure and air are leaking out quickly,” Ekta reported.

“Dammit! Seal off all entrances to the area and any systems that are running through the shuttlebay, I don't want to lose more air or pressure. How are our shields?”

“That round ripped through them, there is nothing left of our shields,” Kxgo didn't bother to realize who had answered him.

Kxgo slammed the one of the holographic panels, “Zuka, are those torpedoes ready?!”

“Aye, Captain,” Zuka answered.

“Lock in co-ordinates on the nearest enemy ship and fire!”

Kefa rested his hand on Kxgo's shoulder, “Calm down Captain, we still have the upper hand. I assure they can get the shields up quick enough, and the humans are still in disarray. Keep yourself calm, at least so your crew does not worry.”

Kxgo listened to Kefa's word intently, and stepped down from the platform, and moved towards the holo table, “Kefa, thank you for reassuring me, but we have another problem on our hands. The ground troops have thus far been unsuccessful, and I trust you deal with our problem. Deploy the Special Operations units and secure the Human command (ONI >.>) building, kill their troops and take any prisoners if possible. If the forces on the ground have secured it, kill whoever you can on the ground.”

Kefa nodded his head and left the Bridge. Kxgo sighed, before moving back to the command platform and listening to the battle chatter, and watching as the four torpedoes flew through space towards their targets.

[SurvivorX]

"Ship Master! They've fired two of their nuclear weapons on us!"

Thgo snarled at the viewscreen. "By the Gods, but they love their overkill. Let us show them not to waste their ammunition on a whim. Tell the Seraphs to focus on those warheads. If they detonate one, it should take the other out in the blast - as well as the Humans' fighters."

"It will take out our own fighters as well, Ship Master."

"Did I ask you, fool?"

"No, Ship Master. My apologies. Relaying your orders now."

"Can't we get this bucket into the atmosphere any sooner?!"

Meanwhile outside, the fighters flew at the warheads with reckless abandon, ignoring the Longswords. They knew that their lives were forfeit on this new mission, and it did not bother them in the slightest. In fact, they looked forward to it.

At last, one tattered, shield-less Seraph managed to get to one of the nukes. It fired its plasma cannons once.

Once.

Then, the entire dogfight was wiped from space in a brilliant flash of light, which was quickly augmented by a second.

Thgo watched the lightshow safely from his seat. "These humans must be desperate if they send such incompetent captains into battle..."

[maxii1]

\\UNSC
\\Frigate
\\Forlorn Hope

Captain McMillan watched what was happening in front of him and shook his head, two nuclear devices so close to each other.
The enemy had reached one and the resulting explosion had set the second warhead off.
"Whiplash Squadron, Report!" he ordered.
He waited patiently for an answer.

The Covenant where arriving in serious numbers, it was time to fall back.
McMillan thought to those still on the ground, those that where now either making their way back to the fleet or else destined to die in that city. Glassed.

"Weapon's, fire at will, though use the heavy artillery appropriately" McMad warned his weapons officer.

[Soulstep]

Crewman Mark Harrington Whiplash 3

"OH SHIT! BRACE YOURSELVES!!!"

Mark had been momentarily puzzled by Whiplash 2's sudden outburst, but soon saw the reason why. The one Seraph that had got through the Longswords was going to detonate the nukes. "Fuck... fuck... FUCK! HANG ON!"

The nukes' silent, but horribly destructive power tossed the Longsword through space, the EMP disabling all systems. They were dead in space, and drifting away at speeds Mark could have only dreamed of. The stars wheeled ahead of them, ships sliding in and out of view. All Mark and the others could do was hold on for dear life.

"Mark! I'll try and get the power up again, but don't expect much!" Yuri yelled over the screams of the rest of the crew. Mark barely heard him, but clung onto the controls, attempting to restart the engines over and over. After what seemed like eternity, the familiar whine of the engines kicked in, and Mark struggled to stabilize the ship.

After wrestling with the laws of physics to calm the Longsword, and the screams had died down, he turned to Yuri to check on systems. "We have 6% power, all weapons offline. Scanners are fried, and comms barely work." Yuri said, solemnly.

Mark tentatively reached for the comm, and spoke, "This is Whiplash 3, can anyone read me? Whiplash squadron? Forlorn Hope? Anyone?"

((Damn you guys can post fast when you want to ))

[inhert]

Mary Mitchel had a Seraph square in her sights before it suddenly dove away and back toward the Battlecruiser. She paused slightly before trying to turn after it, but panicked when she realized were it was going.

"All squadrons do not pursue the Seraphs stay away and at a safe distance from them and head toward the friendlies." She said bringing her nose about and engaging afterburners.

As the fighters did the same there was a sudden shock wave that was felt even at their safe distance. Once the shock wave had passed Mary requested the status of all her craft, and nodded her head in approval as they all checked in.

"All squadrons report clear and satus green." She relied back to the Juniata as she continued toward the other UNSC ships.

---

Gil Talbert Slammed his fist onto the Holo table in reaction to seeing the two SHIVAs get caught early and destroyed. In the back of his mind he knew the was inevitable, but he had hoped to catch the Battlecruiser of guard. At least some Seraphs were taken out in the blast and his fighters were able to get away. The Junaita was also spared getting caught in the blast because of two factors. One, it had fired and started toward the other UNSC ships. And second, the SHIVAs were intercepted close to the Battlecruiser but not close enough to damage it.

"Launch two more squadrons and get us behind the friendlies" Gil barked to no one in particular.

[maxii1]

\\ Captain Paul Nikon
\\ Leaving Forlorn Hope Pelican Bay
\\ Heading towards Whiplash Three

Paul Nikon and Lydia Gibson had been advised to stay aboard the Forlorn Hope, to call the rest of Super Squadron back so that no one was left behind.
Nikon had ignored this advice, he didn’t want to leave soldiers on the ground, however he had updated Super Squadron’s objectives, giving each pilot the choice to stay or go.

Pelican Foxtrot Seven Five Three had picked up a weak distress call from one of the crippled Whiplash Longswords.
”Harrington, it’s Nikon here, look mate, we’re going to come to you and nudge you back towards the Forlorn Hope, what’s the status of your squadron?” Nikon talked as his co-pilot did the flying.

[drawkward]

Command Bridge
Pious Charity
Near the planet Arcadia

Ship Master Joo’nae watched from the bridge as the events unfolded behind the window before him. Two massive explosions rippled through the vacuum of space, where Seraphs had once engaged the enemy in a vicious combat.

“Send our reply, Master Jarkhor, and prepare the energy projector,” said the Ship Master.

Two plasma torpedoes arced out of their tubes from the Pious Charity, headed directly for the UNSC Juniata. Another two launched plasma torpedoes launched shortly afterwards, honed in on the human ship’s engines.

“Liaison—the Seraphs inbound for the planet—tell them to engage enemy targets of opportunity on the planet sparingly. Once Shri T’ova arrives, he will be able to more accurately direct their munitions.”

---

Spirit 12
Space
Approaching the planet Aracadia
Catharsis held his mighty warhammer above his head as he let out a primal roar to the other Jiralhanae that occupied the small vessel.

“Crush their bones, and bleed them all out!” he shouted proudly, his hammer still aloft. “This is our only task. Take no prisoners, and show no mercy, my brothers!”

The other Jiralhanae let out their own war cries and ferocious shrieks of malice. Catharsis realized that in only a few minutes they would have the battle that they had long awaited, as he looked out the side of the craft to see a dozen other dropships surrounded by Seraphs, inbound for the jewelled planet.

[Soulstep]

Crewman Mark Harrington Whiplash 3

Mark sighed in relief as the static-filled transmission came through. "It's bloody good to hear from you, Nikon. But I... I don't know what happened to them." Mark paused for a moment. "I think they were near the nukes... Best guess is they're all KIA."

Mark fell silent, as his ship slowly halted it's backward momentum. The distant Pelican was just visible, but no one was looking at it. They all had their heads dipped in mourning.

(Sorry for short post, I can't think of anything else to put :/)

[maxii1]

\\Captain Paul Nikon

“Bugger” Nikon commented about the fate of Whiplash Squadron, knowing that The Forlorn Hope was now missing the majority of it’s gun ships, it was only a matter of time before Super Squadron would have to return to it’s pelican bay.

“Gently now” he reminded Gibson as she swerved around the crippled craft and started nudging the Longsword towards the Forlorn Hope.
“Harrington, I need you to keep alert with the steering, when you have enough momentum, you’ll be able to drift into the Bay” Nikon kept a calm voice with his instructions.
It was how a pilot survived, being calm.

[dusty]

McCoy shut out Volker's babble.
He turned and started taking control of the situation

"All right men, time for the slugfest we always look for."

Pointing at the Imperious Eye he issued his orders "Full speed ahead, I want to be able to see the captain of that ship's eyes, when i shove my MAC cannon down his through, and fire it."

the men in the bridge acknowledged and the marathon cruiser, sped forward with reckless abandonment to their situation.

They sped for the starboard side, as to avoid its forward facing cannons.

When they had halved the distance he checked with Volker "Chances of evasion have been diminished by 43.43475756839%"

McCoy smiled and walked over to the fire control officer. The man nodded, turned a key, and opened a box.

McCoy looked down, and pushed the button.

2 loud bangs could be head, as the MAC rounds super accelerated at their target.

McCoy turned around "Arm nukes, we need to assault and damage each ship."


You wouldn't be able to pop off 3 MAC rounds that quickly bro...-Prez

Not to mention...halve the distance? You fancy you could keep pace with a Covenant starship, buddy? Cuz lemme tell you... YOU CAN'T. -SurvivorX

Let me help explain. I think he's mixed up with the Pillar of Autums experimental MAC cannon which could fire 3 rounds in quick succession but at a lower power. Lets just point out that all MAC cannons are the standard issue stuff and would probably only fire 1 shot then have to wait for lets say a minute or probably longer. Also, MAC's are very hard to aim unless you have a 'Smart' AI on board. I don't know how many 'Smart' AIs were produced or if every ship had one though but I'd assume that in this early stage of the war every ship would probably have one. - Elando

halo.wikia.com/wiki/Marathon-class_Cruiser Ok, maybe i won't get 3 off, but that article says 2 MAC's so, two rounds are fired then, and by halve the distance i just wanted to get closer to your ship to shoot it. I figured you were getting ready to start deploying on hte planet, so while you were doing that, i was gonna shoot you a few times.

Edit your profile to say the ship has two MAC Cannons then and change your post to say two MAC rounds. -Prez

[caster]

CCS Pious Charity Executive Officer: Shri T'ova

System: Procyon/Planet: Arcadia/ Territory: Pirth/ Landing Zone: Zeta 'Human Maglev Station'

Shri T'ova slouched against the seat of the spirit drop ship. Out of the corner of his vision he caught the view of the Sangheili major sitting next to him. He paid no mind to the major and looked to the data screen in front of him, indeed E’jaro had failed but Shri T'ova felt it foolhardy to assume that the humans would be defeated in their territory with zero support.

Such lessons were handed down at the Sangheili war temple on Sangheilios. The clans of old, whom fought among themselves often fared better on their own grounds than on those of the enemy.

The spirit slowed before the sides of the capsules opened and the lances began pouring out. Shri T'ova made quick foot work to the fire crew beneath the anti-air battery. "E’jaro." Shri T'ova spoke. The minor closest to Shri T'ova placed his arm over his chest and bowed his head.

"Sub-Master, he is below. Near the human trams."

Shri T'ova continued past the fire crew with the two Osaris Legion majors behind him. He would not wait for the Brutes, their Chieftain was already aware to meet with Shri T'ova upon the completion of troop offload.

Approximately ten minutes later Shri T'ova entered the large stands of human trains. There the crimson red E’jaro stood over a holographic projector displaying the updated information from the human "Oh-knee" building.

E'jaro bowed his head and placed his arm across his chest. However, he remained in this positions. Shri T'ova spoke matter of factually carrying the weight of Joo’nae's authority in his words.

"You have failed in your mission to eradicate the filth from this planet."

E'Jaro craned his neck slightly lower.

Shri T'ova would not speak that he believed that E'jaro had been ill prepared, less he speak against his master. Instead, Shri T'ova looked to the map and considered their tactical situation. The special operation troops were still pushing the humans ONI building, and had flooded them up to the 19^th floor.

Shri T'ova watched the map quietly, thoughtfully. After a moment Shri T'ova opened the Covenant Battle Nets command frequency. "Am'ee lance, split your forces. Half of you come to landing area Zeta. The rest, continue the the oh-knee building. Press the assault....Waste the vermin."

Shri T'ova looked to E'Jaro; his words lacking the harsh tones required by Joo'naes authority. "That locust...Bring it." Shri stood on the tracks of the human train system. The tunnel darkened the further it proceeded. One of the Osaris Legion Majors approached. "Sub-Master?"

"The human cartographer building. If it is 50 units high, then it runs 150 units deep...Humans, not unlike the Grunts burrow..." Shri looked over his left shoulder to the major. "The humans going up....They lure us away from the nest of information, not unlike the birds of home. Major, inform the Brutes to hold his structure. Order all Seraph wings to down any human crafts prioritizing by air power then ground vehicles. Their drop ships move far too slowly to outrun or outfight our fighters. Secondly; have all mounted infantry run as hunt and kill teams throughout the city. Kill all encountered but do not hunt them...." Shri T'ova paused for a moment and in that instant the major tilted his head inquisitively.

"No hunting..." Shri stated again. "They will all die when we turn this planet to cinder. The role of our mounted infantry is to halt their ability to freely travel the city. Additionally, after all air contacts are swept away, begin bombarding their structures weakest points using the Seraphs. Bring the rubble down around them. Additionally, close landing zone Gamma. It's position is no longer needed. Route all forces in the area to converge to the center of the city. We have lost the objectives they were sent to secure. Double our forces here." Shri began walking towards the darkened tunnel as the Sangheili major turned to relay his orders to the Covenant forces.

Shri was greeted by half of the special operations teams at the mouth of the cave, and shortly thereafter a Locust piloted by E'Jaro himself. "Come, let not the hands of the enemy stay the locust. It will make our job easier." Shri then looked to E'jaro halfway out of the locust hatch. "Regain some honor, do not fail your task." It was unspoken, while Joo'nae would have likely had E'jaro killed, Shri T'ova believed that E'jaro could have fared better had he been properly supported. Shri would allow him the chance to regain some honor. Even if he had lost his command.

Shri checked the map in his heads up display before continuing with his detachment down the maglev tunnel - north. Fortunately the trains had been halted due to severe damage.

((Posted in the Ground Operations thread as well.))

[tsubinext]

--//UNSC Revolution\\--
--//Erik von Kreigler\\--

"Damn. Another ship lost. Fire the other MAC, now. Status report, Lieutenant Strauss."

"Sir, we have slight hull damage. Crash Course is almost wiped out."

"And the fleet?"

"We need to evacuate all of our units, ASAP."

"GoldenEye, your take on the situation."

"Sir, I agree with Lt. Strauss. Our fleet is outmatched by the Covenant. Retreat is our best option."

"How long can hold out"

"Without reenofrcements, I estimate half an hour to two hours."

"Estimated damage in that time"

"Severe. Sublight systems possibly online."

"Damn. I want full communication to our ships on the double!"

::The Revolution fired its Archers and prepared to fire the MAC again.::

"How much longer until ground forces are ready for evacuation? We can only hold out for about half an hour more..."

"Sir, MAC 1 is ready to fire."

"Understood, fire at whatever target we have a better chance at hitting."

::The MAC fired a shell at the Igneous Asperity, since this one was larger than the other, it fired at a higher speed::

"God help us all."

[inhert]

LTJG Winston Habadasher sent the last Longsword of the Vampire squadron out of hanger bay eight. He turned around to face the control station at the rear of the hanger and raise his forearms vertically in front his face and brought them together. The massive hanger doors slide closed behind Winston an he walked through a bulkhead door and into Hanger bay four directly across form hanger eight.

"Squadrons five and six away." Winston said into the mic was strapped to his neck. Hanger four was facing away from Arcadia and the ensuing battle between the Covenant and UNSC ships and as a result it the hanger doors were open and Deckhands were milling about waiting for the next launch order.

---

On the Bridge of the Juniata alarms rang alerting the crew to four incoming Plasma Torpedoes. Two of the torpedoes were heading toward the side of the Juniata and two more were heading toward the engines. Gil and Ryan stood around the holo table watching four fast moving dots racing toward their ship. They both knew something had to be done.

Gil grunted and placed his hands on the edge of the holo table and leaned over the display. "Raph, get ready to evade those. When they are close, to close, drop the rear so that torps will pass over us" He said to a holographic figure that appeared directly in front of his face.

"There is very little chance that it will work." The figure responded

"Do I look like a man who cares?" Gil barked as he turned away.

Silently four blue blots raced toward the Juniata, as they neared the ship its rear suddenly dropped down. Of the first one torpedo went wide and missed the Juniata, the second was able to correct and slammed into the Juniata between the seventh and eighth hanger bay doors. The third and fourth torpedoes directed themselves toward the engines, when the Juniata dropped one torpedo continued on it course and off into space. The other heading towards the engines corrected itself only slightly and scrapped along the top of the Juniata leaving a plasma gash in the armor.

---

Winston was thrown to the floor along with everyone else in hanger bay four from the explosion on the other side of the ship. Winston had a felling there was no rupture in the hull from the explosion but they weren't getting out scot-free. Standing up he could hear the voice of the ship's XO Ryan Huros, "Anyone damage report from the hanger!"

Winston stood and look around at the others in the hanger bay and responded, "LTJG Habadasher, we got a whole lotta wounded, checking on damage to the ship." Winston ran out of the hanger through the same bulkhead he came in but hung a left and continued up a flight of steps. The hanger control room was a flurry of activity as Winston neared the epicenter, the Bay seven and eight panels.

A deck hand saw Winston approaching and filled him in on the situation, "The torp hit the support between seventh and eighth the doors for both are stuck shut." Winston nodded and relied the information to the bridge.

---

Once the LSO's voice cut out from the Bridge's PA speakers. Ryan and Gil looked at each other. They had avoided heavy damage to the ship but the Juniata would have to level out before it could continue on its way behind the UNSC frigates. By time it had leveled out the Juniata had arrived behind the frigates.

"Launch squadrons seven and eight." Gil ordered his LSO. He then snapped his fingers to his XO, "Get me MandM!"

Once he had a channel to Mary, Gil gave her the game plan, "Have squadrons seven, eight, and five cover our fleet. All others engage targets in the kill zone. No big ships let the Cruisers an Frigates get those with their MAC guns."

[Deleted]

The MAC round flew at the Igneous Asperity at an incredible speed, giving Kxgo little time to react, “Take evasive maneuvers and revert all power to shields!”

Xeto responded in the affirmative

The Igneous Asperity dove, and Kxgo watched as the status of the shields increased. The MAC round blasted into the back end of the ship, barely grazing it and only causing the shields to shudder.

Ekta's voice cut into Kxgo's thought, “Shields at 37% and all weapons are disabled expect for two of the plasma torpedo tubes.”

“Fire the plasma torpedoes on that infernal ship now!” Kxgo responded.

There was a short pause as Zuka entered the targeting data, and then the two Plasma Torpedoes streaked from their tubes towards the UNSC Revolution. Kxgo rested his chin on his hand, praying the torpedoes would hit there target.

[nex]

//Message forwarded from the UNSC Masyaf

"We've recieved numerous communications from the ONI building in the city. It appears the covenant have infilitrated the buildings lower facility. It stands to reason they could have had access to restricted archive material - Including stellar cartography. UNSC forces in the area are pinned down in the upper floors, and running low on ammo and supplies. They cannot be extracted or reinforced due to active covenant AA. We need some intervention. Try and rally any more ground forces, for a co-ordinated strike on that AA. Sync. 1 Hour"

[maxii1]

Captain McMillan

Captain McMillan swore loudly, things were starting to get bloody messy.
His Longsword squadron was MIA, leaving the majority of the pelicans that where ferrying survivors exposed to enemy fire.
Meanwhile space combat was stepping up a gear with two enemy vessels in the vicinity of the city.
“Weapons Online, We need to buy the men on the ground enough time to escape!” he stated.
The only one to point out the flaw in his plan was the shipboard AI; Polly who commented “We have to think of the civilians now, we can’t keep them at risk for…”
McMad cut the AI short with a “We need to buy the men on the ground time, they’re pulling back or completing their last objectives as we speak, we do what has to be done”
McMad thought of the city beneath him, filled with the dead and the setting for one final bloody battle before the UNSC would bug out.

[inhert]

On the bridge of the Juniata Gil watched on the holo as a number of Seraphs entered the atmosphere of Arcadia. This wasn't looking good for the Marines on the ground. Fighter support was needed both on the surface and up here in space the Juniata had to provide the fighters for both. Ryan look at his Captain waiting for some action, but all Gil did was stare at the holo table.

The voice of Ensign Morgan cut the tension on the bridge, " Sir, incoming message from the Masyaf planet-side." She said as she piped the voice from the Masyaf into the bridge speakers.

W We need some intervention. The words in the message snapped Gil away from the holo table.

Gil finally lifted his head and made eye contact with his XO, "Ryan, get a status on Primus and Strike Fighters in the hangers."

Ryan didn't say a word as he looked toward the Tactical Officer George Tagert who answered the Captain's question, "Both squadrons are ready fro redeployment, MandM is waiting orders."

"Good I want both of them planet side to help with the Masyaf. Priority of the Shortswords should be to try and take out that AA. Have MandM and her Longswords fly cover for the flight of Pelies going to the Masyaf." Gil said grimly to his Tactical officer. George relied the orders to the LSO and Mary in the hanger bay.

---

"Green light" crackled the voice of LSO Habadasher in Mary's helmet radio. Mary max her throttle and her Longsword shot out of the Juniata's hanger bay. She joined the other 15 Longswords and Shortswords as they entered the Atmosphere of Arcadia.

[SurvivorX]

Ermm, even if you did "DIVERT ALL POWER TO REAR DEFLECTOR SHIELDS!" 3 MAC rounds would completely lower your shields, if not obliterate your ship. Also atmosphere offers no protection against Mac rounds and the UNSC would deffinately fire on you even if you were in the atmosphere considering they're about to nuke the planet's only city.
-Elando

"Incoming enemy fire!"

Thgo was laughing hysterically now. "They will try anything to keep us away from that planet. They now grasp at straws. Establish a loose orbit quickly, then shunt all power to rear shields. We will take their punches and then duck into the atmosphere where they will not be able to hit us."

The ship maneuvered a bit, then the lights went out. The Elite at the defense-systems station reported: "All three MAC rounds have hit. Our shields are near-broken, but are still holding."

"Re-equalize, restore power, then get us into the atmosphere."

"Ship Master, we are roughly one-third of the way around the planet from the targeted dropzone."

"Do it anyways - we will circle the planet the long way and arrive from the far side. Immediately!"

The ship ducked under, the planet's thick atmosphere providing more protection from Human MAC guns than any Covenant shield system could ever provide - even if the humans did wish to risk shelling their own planet.

[dusty]

This is Foxtrot squad at the ONI building, We are on floor 47 fighting our way up, we have the VIP's with us, and we are waiting for extraction. over"

John McCoy looked around. That was the ODST objective. "Open a line up to them right now!" He yelled grabbing the phone. Someone nodded, opened the line, then saluted.

"This is Captain John McCoy of the UNSC Rolling Thunder, We have heard your request and because the AA emplacement has been destroyed, We are Deploying Crazy Cougar squadron to Ferry up your VIP's, then all wounded personnel, and finally all fighting condition Soldiers"

He put the phone down, he knew he was lying to them about getting them all out of there, but it was better then nothing.

He turned. "Get my Pelicans to the ONI building Right fucking Quick!, and Get Romeo Squadron to escort them. Arm the Nukes so we can wipe this city off the planet the second we need to! Inform all other ships of this, and that we'll be the last to leave this planet if we need to. Arm my Macs as well, and get firing trajectories so i can kill any ships that try to dislodge us."

The Room turned into a hive of activity as orders were carried out.

[caster]

CCS Pious Charity Executive Officer: Shri T'ova

System: System: Procyon/ Planet: Arcadia/ Approaching the Pious Charity's Dock

Shri T'ova continued to monitor the exterior cameras as the blue haze filtered to blackness. Shri had only now realized that it may have been a tactical mistake to be the only transport among a number of fighter crafts. There was a jolting explosion and the craft rocked from one side to the other. It wasn't long before a Long Sword erupted into flame behind them and corkscrewed down towards the planet, caught in its gravity well. Two flights of Seraphs surrounded the craft as it headed towards the "charity".

Shri grasped the hold points as the craft rolled from one side to the other and increasing numbers of Seraphs would peal away to engage, but not return. Had Shri followed up the other transports, perhaps the humans would not have expected this one to be so special. It was no matter though, although the spirit was badly damaged, Shri and his two Majors had made it to the deck just fine. Shri relieved his Majors and continued through the winding corridors to the bridge. Shir approached the raised platform where Joo'Nae stood before the Ship Masters seat. He bowed his head and placed his arm over his chest, offering the respect due to his master. Shri awaited Joo'Nae to address him before speaking, not knowing whether his attention was needed elsewhere first.

[dusty]

"Sir we can not reach them via the roof of the building. The Masyaf is in the courtyard covering the extraction. Crazy cougar has lost 2 pelicans."

McCoy looked out the viewport for a moment thinking.

"Allright, hover over the masyaf, and keep thruster at ready. We'll make sure no covie bastards think its a good idea to try and raid them. Redirect Crazy cougar to Pickup from the courtyard, Have Romeo provide cover."

McCoy nodded, "anything else?"

"Sir, we just recieved a Distress signal from one of our downed pelicans. They have 1 KIA, and 3 WIA. 2 can walk. They are requesting a search and Rescue."

McCoy thought about it. It was a hard call. He turned to Volker who was quiet monitoring the Battle comms and updates.

"Volker, What squad down there is in the best fighting condition?"

Volker was quiet as he ran data for 3 seconds.

"Squad Foxtrot, of the 42nd Drop company."

McCoy nodded "Allright, Get them on that search and rescue mission"

[elando]

Flashheart's heart fell as he heard the voice of the Ship's AI over the sound of warning syrens. "Captain, I have some bad news..." McNeal started. "Oh Shit, can't it wait?!" Flashheart snapped back as the ship rolled to avoid the trajectory of a plasma torpedo. "Sir, I just recieved information from the ONI building that requires your upmost attention!" McNeal replied with increasing urgency. "Hard to Starboard! Launch all remaining Archer pods at that Assault Carrier!" Flashheart shouted, ignoring the insistant AI.

"Sir! The ONI data has be captured." McNeal said, making sure he was heard this time. "Oh you have got to be shitting me..." Flashheart whispered. "What's its current location?!" "The Assault Carrier, Sir. May I suggest firing alot of rockets at it at once? Possibly a nuke or two for good measure?" McNeal replied. "We'll go one better..." Said Flashheart as he keyed the fleet wide intercom. "This is Captain Flashheart. All UNSC vessals concentrate your fire on the Assault Carrier. There is vital information aboard which must not leave this system."

"Nuke the damn thing back to the stone age!"

[dusty]

McCoy looked at a a ground report.

An ODST squad aboard his ship had 2 copies of the ONI data on their pdas and technicians were currently beginning to sort through it.

"Sir, Orders from flash heart! Engage and destroy the Assault carrier!"

McCoy nodded.

"Volker get firing trajectories for MAC cannon, 2 Nukes, and 6 Archer pods. Then fire, once you've done that. Reload the MAC and fire until one of two things happen. We shoot that ship down, or it leaves"

Volker nodded and after 5 or so seconds spoke "Firing trajectories found. Firing"

180 rockets, 2 MAC rounds, and 2 nukes left the Rolling Thunder on a collision course for the Assault carrier.

"Lets hope we knock the hell out of these punks."

[inhert]

The bridge of the bridge of the Juniata had been a constant flurry of activity since Primus and Strike Fighters squadrons had made atmospheric entry. A Covenant Battlecruiser, the same one Gil brashly launched two SHIVAs at, had moved onto the far side of Arcadia and out of range of UNSC's guns. The shift of the Battlecruiser left only two Covenant ships that the UNSC was able to attack. Ever if their was only two now it was apparent that the battle on Arcadia wasn't going well for the Marines.

"Goddamnit," Gil muttered looking at the situation on the holo board, Primus and Strike Fighters were fighting a losing battle planet side, and they were in dire need of reinforcements, "Get Vigilantes and Demons back here and refitted. Once thats done get them planet side to help Primus and Strike Fighters."


George Tagert nodded from his post and set to getting the Vigilantes and Demons squared away. Gil walked around and stood next to his XO Ryan Huros, the two of them stood in silenced and watched the battle unfold. On the board they watched as the UNSC Rolling Thunder started to move closer to the planet to help it Pelicans with evacuation of Marines.

The voice of Pamela Morgan broke the silence of the two officers, "Sirs we have an incoming message from Flashheart on the Honour and Glory", before she could continue both Gil and Ryan nodded at her. She then patched the message over the bridge's speakers.

This is Captain Flashheart. All UNSC vessals concentrate your fire on the Assault Carrier.

Gil and Ryan looked at each other and nodded.

"We should have done this the first time," Ryan said first.

"Yeah, but I though we had a target of opportunity." Gil quickly responded as he approached George Tagert and only said, "Do it."

Tagert nodded, he know what he was supposed to do. George selected a target packed labeled 'The Arch'. This package includes that all four torpedo tubes would be loaded, but only two would have SHIVA's the other two would be torpedoes with out warheads. All four torpedoes would be launched but the two SHIVA's would have a 'soft launch', meaning their thrusters would not activate after coming out of the tube, making them look like they were duds. The empty torpedoes would be shot directly at the Assault Carrier, while the 'dud' SHIVAs would eventually have thrusters kick on and they would start to go in the general direction of the Assault Carrier looking like they would miss. After a set amount of time on a missing path, the torpedoes' guidance system would automatically change the path looping it back around and into the Covenant ship.

[caster]

CCS Pious Charity Executive Officer: Shri T'ova

System: Procyon/ Planet: Arcadia/ Aboard the Pious Charity

Shri T'ova was still standing in the position of honor before the warning claxons started wailing. Jarkhor Vlaadais the weapons officer looked over his shoulder to Joo'Nae. "Ship Master, human fleet targetting us directly!" Shri T'ova looked to Joo'Nae who appeared to be preoccupied with something. Shri offered an honorific before addressing the imminent threat. "Allow me, Master."

Shri paced past the command chair and looked to the holographic display. Suddenly the ship shuddered and warning claxons wailed louder. "Two hits against the shields! Human main cannons! Shield below 10 percent!"

Shri glanced over the information on the screen. "Cut power to shields and put them into the slipspace capcitors! Navigation plot course to zero-nine-three-two-one relative to the planet! Weapons, route power from the torpedos to capcitors!"

Del’Goron Kovrim the navigations officer entered the new solution as the capictors charged far more rapidly with the added power.

The shields that were still flarring from the mac rounds failed as the power turned off. "Bring fighters into cover swarm." The faster archer missiles were the biggest threat now. Shri needed only defect the first salvo of approximately sixty rockets before he would be safe. The slower nuclear weapons were not the biggest threat, yet.

The rockets streaked across the kill zone towards the Pious Charity. Some of the rockets, had curved towards the other ship likely confused by the similar bisecting enemy signatures. Seraphs streaked out meeting the closests missles head on, detonating them away from the Charity, while the point defense weapons began to shoot down more. The slipspace bubble opened and the assault carrier hurried into its safety, the radiation and space warping principals confusing the few rockets which were not close enough. The rest detonated along the starboard fin, causing armor scaring but not much else. The slower moving nuclear missiles and the last flurry from the second salvo would streak harmlessly past where the Charity had been.


Once inside slipspace Shri knew he had only moments. "Bring the bow and port thrusters offline and route power to weapons. Target all enemy ships with last known positioning." Shri ordered. Vlaadais smuggly replied. "Already done."

Shri shot the weapons officer a glance, the two did not like eachother, and it was generally evident when Shri was on the bridge. "Excellent, now take those calculations and account for mirror imaging at a range half of what we were."

The weapons officer clicked his top and bottom mandibles together, something akin to a huff and started the calculations.
"When we arrive, route half engines to shields!"


Suddenly the ship was looking into the inky space above Arcadia, the five human ships sterns visible. The charity was approximately forty degrees under the human staggered line, and was roughly half the distance they were previously at. The Charity exited the slipspace rift completely and the engines could be heard groaning lower. "Correcting trajectories!" Vlaadais sounded off. The corrections would be minute.

Shri wanted to take out the largest threats first. The Rolling Thunder and the Revolution would both be fired upon first, targetting their main engines. At this range the heavier cruisers had little manuevering options, the best they could hope for would be to thrust on axis and take the hits to either starboard or port side. These ships were quicker and armed more heavily. If they weren't damaged they would likely be the quickest to a firing solution on the Charity.

Meanwhile the frigates Honor and Glory and Forlorn Hope would suffer hits to their lower port sides, hopefully damaging the super structures of each taking their main guns offline. The shot wasn't perfect, and it was only the desired effect of the salvo. The Honor and Glory was the heavier frigate a destoryer class. They were known for taking a beating. Shri wanted to knock out its biggest asset, its main cannon as quickly as possible. The other cruiser, was a standard frigate and while Shri knew it had a cannon it was not the same as the destroyer making it less of a priority target at the moment.

Shri watched the view screen focusing on the Juniata, the human carrier. Likely the humans from the ONI building would rely on that for their evacuation. Outside of tactics, Shri felt that if they targetted his Masters carrier, then he would target theirs.

The energy projector was saved for this task. The highly potent beam was known to cut through frigates easily. While the carrier had more tonnage, Shri was confident the peircing plasma would creat massive system failures on board. The Juniata would be severed from bottom stern to top, or at least severly damaged on the under side. Shri was looking to severly cripple the ships already slower movement.

Finally the four torpedos launched towards their targets, while the instantaneous beam started charging at the bow of the Charity. It would fire in meer moments, and Shri was confident there was no time for the human on the Juniata to realize he was targetted and manuver out of the shot.

After the first massive salvo, from the Charity it shields would bubble back into existance and start charging at an increased rate, with the shimmering exentuated by arching lances of power.

[dusty]

"Sir torpedo incoming! We have two options! take it to the portside or the bridge!"

"Maneuver and take it to the portside, fire another 3 archer pods, and reload my macs. as soon as we take that hit I want to be in position to fire again!"

"Aye Sir!"

The rolling thunder launched 90 missiles as it turn to take the hit on its stronger portside armor.

The impact caused the whole ship to shudder

The rolling thunder then took time to bring it's main weapons to bear.

"Fires raging on decks 7.9 82. and 4.5!"

"Vent them, those are too close to munitions to let it burn out. Ill write a letter to the families"

“Sir we’re in position!”

“Give them hell”

The MACs fired again.

[inhert]

Time seemed to slow down for the Officers on the Juniata as their torpedoes speed toward the Assault Carrier. Gil and Ryan watched on the holo table as the two dots moved toward the Assault Carrier, until suddenly the Assault Carrier disappeared from the display.

"Where did it go?" Ryan asked first.

"Did they kill it?" Gil fired off before anyone could answer the XO's question.

"It appears that it has run away." The holographic figure of Raphael, Juniata's AI, responds to the officers' questions, "I would figure that it made a emergency jump to avoid attack."

"Or they are planning something" Gil said, "Raph get those Torpedoes on another target." The figure of Raphael nodded and flickered off. Gil exhaled slowly in confusion as he looked over the holo table. He had no idea why the Assault Carrier had ran, until it reappear behind the UNSC Ships.

"Sir the Assault Carrier has just exit slip-space, behind us" Tactical officer George Tagert announced, "it is targeting us with its energy projector." Tagert's announcement was only accented by the alarms that rang through the ship. The beam of the Covenant's energy projector was a kill shot to the Juniata, especially that now there was no way that it could be dodged. Gil had only moments to think over the situation, when he thought that loss of the Juniata's engines was inevitable a crazy idea came to mind.

"Raphael, spin up the FTL and plot the trajectory of that beam." Gil ordered his AI.

Raphael appeared on his place on the holo table and questioned Gil's order, "Sir retreat is not a viable option, all of our fighters are deployed."

"We're not running," Gil corrected his AI, "Open the bubble between the Juniata and the beam. Raphael began to object but was silenced with a wave from Gil.

The energy beam left the bow of the CCS Pious Charity and slipped along a straight path directly to the Juniata's engines. Nothing was done on the part of the Juniata to try to avoid the beam of death that was heading its way, the ship stayed stationary in its position behind the other UNSC ships. It was not until impact looked imminent that there was action on the part of the Juniata. A large multicolored hole in space suddenly appeared between the beam and the Juniata. Unable to change course the beam entered into the hole and into slip space.

---

It was a monuments occasion for the Glax, a reptilian race living undisturbed in the Orion Arm of the Milky Way Galaxy. This was their first maned test of the only recently discovered slip-space travel. The ship that the Glax had build to take the slip-space took them 4 years to create the special engine that could tear a hole in space. The three Glax who would be taking the trip know the risked and were lauded as planetary heros. The astronauts sat at their consoles in their ship and began the procedure that would allow the Glax to explore beyond their solar system. At first a small pin-prick of multi colored light apeared before the ship, then suddenly it burst into a large hole in space. The Glax had done it they were about to have the first manned slip-space travel, to where they had no idea but the Glax would get to meet the other races of the Milky Way. The ship moved toward the hole about the enter it until a large beam of energy emerged from the hole and sliced through the ship. The Glax ship was severed in two, the entire population of the Glax watched on their view screen back on the planet as their first attempt at slip-space travel was destroyed by the portal it created, seemly by the portal itself. After this horrific occasion the Glax never attempted slip-space travel again.

---

Gil sighed at the narrow miss of the energy beam. He knew this battle was lost and the UNSC's only chance of survival was retreat.

"Recall all fighters and get the FTL spinning again, we're leaving once we get the all clear" He said to all the officers on the bridge. Everyone started their duties getting the Juniata's surviving pilots back home.

[caster]

CCS Pious Charity Executive Officer: Shri T'ova

System: Procyon/ Planet: Arcadia/ Aboard the Pious Charity

The Rolling Thunder was the only ship to react to the salvo. Shri clicked his mandibles as the torpedoes hit their various targets. Not exactly on mark, that was perhaps the cost of firing on the older targeting data. The human ship, Rolling Thunder had launched ninety-missiles at the larger Covenant Assault Carrier, and as it spun 180^o around and fired its two main guns. The rounds weren't on target unfortunately. Perhaps the ships sensors had been damaged. The ship seemed to think the attack was coming from directly behind it, not off tilt as the Charity currently was. The missiles however, honed on their target and splashed against the shields until they faltered.

Shri watched the deadly energy projector lance out towards the Juniata. The lance fired directly into.....a slip space hole? The Executive Officer clicked his mandibles. Was it irritation or respect? Shri targeted a follow up salvo to all ships including the Juniata, only this time it would fire on all ships with the torpedoes and again a special engagement of all laser turrets towards the Junaita.

As the weapons began their charging cycle Shri listened as the doors of the bridge hissed open. Shri glanced over his shoulder to see the Cleric of Piety floating towards the raised command area. Perhaps this is what Joo'Nae had been distracted by earlier. The Cleric approached Shri, who continued to monitor the battle.

"Shri T'ova, you have the human data?" The cleric asked solemnly.

Shri who hadn't expected to be addressed turned and lowered his head in respect. "Yes, Noble Cleric."

"Excellent. Then take us from here. We are to meet the Prophet of Regret and deliver this information to his fleet."

Shri was careful to word his response. "At once, Cleric. What of the humans here?"

"Regret has already dispatched the fleet of Unending Search to recover the rest of the Forerunner artifacts and eradicate any humans left behind." The Cleric waved a dismissive hand and floated back towards Joo'Nae.

"Navigation, set course and proceed!" Shri bellowed over the noise of the battle navigation.

"Shields down!" The weapons officer called out.

"It's of no matter. Dump all weapons power to the slip space drives."

The charging torpedoes and laser turrets that glowed with molten fire died and suddenly another slip space rift tore open before the bow of the Pious Charity. The large assault carrier flew into the opening rift and departed Arcadia abandoning its deadly assault on the human fleet. Additionally, it left the Ingenious Asperity and the Imperious Eye to their own devices.

[dusty]

McCoy was furious. He knew to get in a standoff fight with the assualt carrier would be a victory for him. "Recall all ships, spin up FTL, We will be the last to leave and the rear guards. Contanct flashheart for coordinates to jump to"

[maxii1]

\\Captain Reginald McMillan
\\ The Forlorn Hope, Bridge

The Forlorn Hope had almost all personal accounted for. A few Pelicans had ended up aboard other vessel’s bays and some soldiers had ended up adrift from their units and resided in medical bays or other locations.
Captain Paul Nikon was at this moment being tended to at the Medical Bay, perhaps McMillan would pay his friend a visit in a moment of calm to come.


McMillan had been about to refocus his attentions to combat, when one of the Covenant ships Pious Charity had started jumping, opening a rift.
“Flashheart, I think we should move off with our civilian payload and deliver them safely, although that Covie ship must have something of importance to leave the battle field”

The Ships A.I Polly warned that “We need to tend to our civilians needs before we restart hostilities with the enemy”

McMad shook his head. ‘Something must be aboard that vessel, be it an artefact or perhaps a captured officer, something of worth to warrant the crafts departure from the battle’.