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The battle for Delta Phi by Greekgod7480



The battle for the Delta Phi System
Date: 25 April 2005, 6:18 PM

January 17, 2564 (USNC Military Calendar)
Delta Phi System, USNC Inner Colony
Gladiator Class Heavy Cruiser NGC-3 Avenger
On testing mission in outer system

Vice Admiral Lee Jackson sat on the bridge of this new class of USNC starship. His bridge crew was at attention continuing their testing run in the outer rim of the system. The guys over at ONI put a lot of time into this new ship and didn't want her to get nicked up so they put someone as high as Vice Admiral in command.

Jackson was continuing the test on the new hardware they put on her, specifically the new EMC device ONI came up with. By reverse engineering some of those captured elite cloaking devices and figuring out how they worked, the managed to make some starship sized EMC devices, which were only on three ships in the fleet, his ship and the two others that were in his task force. This by no means made the ship invisible but it really messed with the Covenant's radar making it possible to get close without showing ones self.

This ship is the pride of the UNSC incorporating all of the new combination Covenant-Human technologies. New shields, plasma turrets, and upgraded MACs, this was why they were out here.

The ship's smart A.I. Brutus awoke the Admiral from his daydream saying, "It seems as though the other task force has not detected us yet, shall I continue maneuvers in the outer system?"

"Yes, " responded the Admiral, "continue the tests of the task group's cloaking sweet, signal all ships to continue maneuvers."

This continued for a good while, the Admiral was slightly bored, but he admitted to himself this was a shit load better than being out on the front lines fighting the covenant, however, there was the thought in the back of his mind of what type of carnage he could wreck with a ship like this. The Covenant would sure be in for a surprise when they got this puppy out on the front lines.

After the Admiral was done thinking he said, while taking a sip of his coffee, "Brutus would you be so kind as to hail Captains Pasisi and Brenner?"
"Of course," responded the A.I.

Captain Parisi was on the bridge of the Cesar, on of the other two ships in task force Alpha. The A.I. on that ship, Hailey, announced, "Captain, the Admirable is hailing us."
"Put him through."
"Aye sir."
"Hello Captain, how are things going on that fine ship of yours?" asked the Admiral.
"Excellent sir, all systems are functioning within normal param-"
Suddenly the radar operator on Cesar shouted, "Captain slip space ruptures barring 017!"
The Captain immediately came alert and heard the Admirable say, "Parisi, Brenner, were we supposed to be having guests?!?"
Conveniently Brutus chimed in, "No sir, in fact, those contacts are Covenant."
"How many ships?"
"I count one fleet carrier, four cruisers, and two destroyers, O and Admiral be careful, that fleet carrier is one of those ones with a "ship sniper" so it'd be in your best interest to take that bitch out ASAP."

The Admirable was in a dilemma, a covenant force had just entered another Inner Colony system, and since right now almost all resources were allocated to sol, there were only two MAC guns in orbit around the planet, and they were old models. Not to mention the problem he had with that fucking fleet carrier, that thing could kill us before we can fire a shot. He had to think fast, and it could not involve him hiding behind MAC guns like he could at Earth because soon there wouldn't be anything to hide behind.

Mid thought Brutus said, "Admirable, task force Beta, the ones supposed to be tracking us, are hailing us, shall I respond?"

The Admirable was silent for a moment, still thinking. Task Force Beta was made up of two cruisers and a destroyer, not nearly enough to stop that many covenant, even with the upgrades. However, theirs weren't nearly the level of the Avenger's, but higher than normal standards none the less. He responded, "Tell them to hold position and try to make the covenant slow down but engage if necessary to keep the covenant away from the planet."
"Aye sir."
"Brutus, tell the rest of the task force to move into attack pattern delta and follow our lead."
"Aye sir, sending signal."
"Nav, bring the ship to bearing 146, and bring the reactors up to 76%."
"Aye sire, bearing 146, reactors up to 76% aye," responded Ensign Harper.

76% thought the captain, just enough to remain undetected for the crazy scheme I'm cooking up.
The Admirable had sure been given a great crew by the guys at ONI, which was in short supply these days, as well as everything else. He guessed he was finally going to see what they were like in combat.

"Logistics bring the EMC online."
"But sir, we have not finished testing!" replied Lieutenant Jacobs.

The captain liked Jacobs, thought he was a smart kid, but now just wasn't the time to question orders, although he knew what he was about to try was going to take guts, and wasn't sure if it was going to work either.

"I said bring the EMC online," the captain coolly said.

Soon after that the rest of the task force followed suit, and proceed on the Admiral's heading.



The battle for Delta Phi pt. 2
Date: 25 April 2005, 6:19 PM

7th Age of Reclamation
Delta Phi System, UNSC Inner Colony
Aboard the Covenant Flag Ship Law and Order

Commander Za'weeka stood aboard the bridge of the fleet carrier Law and Order. The holo displays in front of him showed him what he hated most, human filth. By the order of the prophets he was to cleanse this system of human life and was ready to start. He was going to enjoy every moment of the human's suffering.

The Commander said to his aid, "Signal all ships to come to battle stations."
"Yes your holiness," responded lower elite Kin'kinatu.

The Commander, unaware of the other human force in the system, thought to himself, a small human patrol we shall dispatch of them immediately then continue to the cleansing of the planet. He looked around the bridge seeing his officers concentrating and not losing their cool, though who could lose their cool against such a pitiful human force.

"Commander, your orders?" asked Kin'kinatu.
The Commander turned and faced him and said, "Tell the rest of the battle group to proceed at ² speed and set in a collision course for the human vessels."
"Yes sir," said the elite as he turned to the com officer to give him the orders then hit a series of buttons on his holo display.

The Commander returned to his command chair to check the status of the ship, everything was within normal operating parameters and with an ETA of two cycles to firing range of the humans he decided to go to his quarters.
The Commander said, "Captain Kin'kinatu, you have the bridge," as he said that he proceed to his ready room for prayer.

One and a half cycles later the Commander returned to the bridge and it was reported by lower elite Kin'kinatu that the humans were falling back toward the planet in an effort to get behind their orbital defenses.

The commander said, "continue on present heading and speed, we shall corner the humans and destroy them all, ETA to firing range?"
"A quarter of a cycle."

Excellent, thought the Commander, soon I will be praised by the high prophets for achieving the destruction of another world. Perhaps there would be a promotion involved too.

January 18, 2564 (UNSC Military Calendar)
Delta Phi System, USNC Inner Colony
Gladiator Class Heavy Cruiser NGC-3 Avenger
In pursuit of the Covenant battle group

Jackson sat in his command chair impatiently waiting for the time to firing range. If the task force did not arrive soon, task force beta would be destroyed.

"Nav, what is our ETA to firing range?"
"Four minutes, sir"
"Are we approaching in their blind spot?"
"Yes sir, exactly as requested with our vector and the cloaking device, the Covenant won't know what hit them!"

All ships had blind spots. It was a fact of life. Radar only has a certain circumventing ability and if one was to approach a ship at just the right vector and without using too much power to the reactor, it would be unseen. However, there was a counter to this, ships could position themselves to cover each other's back, but this Covenant bastard apparently was a little cocky so he didn't bother with that, just what Jackson wanted.

"Tac, I want MAC guns one, two, and three warmed up, and arm, archer missile pods A-1 through D-17," said the Admirable while looking at his display.
"Aye sir, MACs one, two and three charging, removing safeties on archer missile pods A-1 through D-17, aye."
"Com, send a signal to Cesar and Athens, tell them to follow suit but do not bring up shields, I repeat do not bring up shields."
"Aye sir, sending signal Aye."

That was the only problem with these new shields, thought the Admiral, they lit you up like a firecracker on the Fourth of July. He couldn't say he didn't like them though, but he did sort of want to see how much of a beating they could take. The techs said they're even better than the Covenant stuff. That was pretty hard to believe, but the Admiral was yet to prove them wrong.

Jackson looked back down at his display and saw the situation, three heavy cruisers, two light destroyers, and one light cruiser versus a fleet carrier, four cruisers and two destroyers, in any other situation it would seem hopeless but with the position Jackson was in, and the upgrades to the ships, it looked like he had a chance.

"Nav, ETA to firing range?"
"Were closing in on them now Commander, ETA is 45 seconds aye"
"Tac, what about weapons?"
"MACs one, two and three are hot, and archer missile pods A-1 through D-17 armed and ready, ditto for the rest of the task force."
"Good," responded the Admiral as he spun around in his Command Chair. "Com, tell task force beta to be ready to engage and send the Cesar and Athens the following firing solutions."

Jackson danced his fingers around on his display already knowing what he wanted, he would have the Avenger fire all three of it's MACs at the fleet carrier, which was designated bravo one, and follow it up with missile pods A-1 through D-17. He hoped it would be enough since he was hoping to catch the bastards off guard, but those things could sure take a beating. The Caesar would fire all three of its MAC rounds at cruiser epsilon one and fire all of its missiles at the bravo one as well, it might be overkill, but the Admiral wanted to make sure those bastards were dead. Finally the Athens would do the same to cruiser epsilon two and fire its missiles at epsilon one. Jackson figured this would cripple at least a couple of ships and give him time during the ensuing confusion to finish off the rest of the Covenant.

"After finishing his work the Lieutenant at the com station replied, aye sir, messages sent, Cesar and Athens acknowledge."
"Nav, ETA?"
"ETA is five seconds sir."
"Tac, prepare to fire on my command and logistics, prepare to bring up the shields and disengage the EMC in conjunction with the firing of the first salvo."
"Aye sir," they responded in unison.

The Admiral felt the adrenaline pumping through him; he was ready to kill some covenant bastards for what they had done. His heart was thumping and the air was thick with tension. He was still confident though, his bridge crew was keeping it's cool, just what Jackson wanted, to lighten up everyone he remark, "Just so you know, I call the commanding elite's head so I can hang it on the wall in my cabin."

He got a few chuckles from the command team, just what he needed, because they won't be chuckling anymore for awhile.

Brutus, while appearing on his pedestal, announced, "Admiral, we are in firing range."
"Excellent," remarked Jackson, "Tac, engage the firing solution and Logistics bring up shields"
"Aye sir," they responded.

The bridge shook as the three MAC guns fired; they hurled the 3000 ton depleted uranium projectiles at a significant fraction of light speed toward the Covenant armada. Just as the ships got off their first salvo they put up their shields and disabled the EMC to give more power to the weapons. Unfortunately, Task Force Alpha was unable to make it into battle in a quick enough time to save the rest of the battle group, but they did not die in vein, they still took out those two covenant destroyers.

The Covenant were caught off guard just as the Admiral was hoping, he decimated the fleet carrier, one of their cruisers and severely crippled the other had its shield knocked out with some damage. Then he gave the order to fire at will and that was when the Covenant got their real surprise.



7th Age of Reclamation
Delta Phi System, UNSC Inner Colony
On current Flag Ship, Cruiser: Passionate Worship

Damnit, thought Captain, Linqui'at. The humans have flanked us, no matter, our technology is still far superior to theirs we shall defeat them. He then ordered, "Tell what's left of battle group to charge plasma turrets and fire at will!"
"Yes sir," responded an elite.

The Prophets will surly not be happy about this, so many ships were destroyed, but no matter, the end of humanity will be soon. With that he ordered to his lower elite, "Tell the other cruisers to charge all plasma turrets and direct all fire on the nearest cruiser and launch 75% of the Seraph fighters and keep the rest in reserve."

With that a red line formed around the perimeter of the last three cruisers and suddenly the plasma lashed out toward the nearest human vessel, the Athens. The plasma narrowed in on the ship and impacted, but to the elite's surprise, it deflected many of the hits with energy shield, but this was somewhat expected, as he had seen with the previous human vessels they had managed to replicate the forerunner shield technology, he thought to himself it was good that he had somewhat of an overkill. The wave of plasma ripped the ship apart.

The humans launched their small craft which sped toward the Seraphs. The single ships dodged and moved with amazing agility in a massive dogfight, with both sides ending severely crippled, and the Covenant fighters matching the humans blow for blow.

On the bridge of the Passionate Worship the Captain made new orders, "fire at will."
With that the cruisers let lose with all of their firepower. Then something most unexpected happened, the humans seemed to be charging plasma cannons. This was impossible Linqui'at thought to himself, how could humans posses this technology. The plasma flew from the human ships impacting on the remaining cruisers totally decimating the last of the Covenant battle group.

The humans had finally won a battle for reasons other than having numbers that were five to one or some ingenious military maneuver. This time they won on sheer guts and better technology, perhaps the tide of the war was turning.





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