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End Game: Chapter One
Posted By: Anthony Coronado<legend1_445@hotmail.com>
Date: 4 April 2003, 5:14 AM
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"All UNSC personnel in the Saturn system, be advised the Covenant are performing a pin-point intersystem jump into your immediate area. All personnel in the Saturn system regroup and attack with the greatest of speeds. Good luck, Stanforth out." Stanforth's bleak expression vanished away from the Conquistador's main view screen. The Conquistador was a new frigate, fresh out of the Reyes-Mclees Space Docks over Mars. She was well over one and a half kilometers in length, weighed in at over one hundred thousand tons, and was outfitted with the latest in shipboard technology. She was crewed by over one thousand Navy and Marine personnel, and carried a fully equipped armored division. She was also equipped with over one hundred missile pod bays on both the starboard and port side, carried three SHIVA III nuclear warheads, and two MAC guns. Her shipboard AI, Olympius, was a new "smart-AI."
The Conquistador's captain spoke, "Olympius, bring the ship back up to combat alert Alpha. I want everyone at his or her battle stations. Enemy contact is inevitable. Prepare to be boarded. Arm two SHIVA nuclear missiles, and arm missile pods A through G. I wont one hundred and fifty percent charge on our MACs."
"Aye aye, sir. Missile pods A through G armed. One hundred and fifty percent charge, sir!" Olympius snapped to. "Olympius, get us a lock on the Covenant positions."
"Sir, Covenant fleet at bearing zero-two-six-five-five-four-nine. They are heading directly to Titan. Speed is 150000 kph, sir. We have a target lock for the main bridge of the lead craft. They are exiting Slipstream space as we speak." The swirling mass of cobalt-green expanded, and henceforth spewed over a thousand Covenant vessels.
"Holy shit. Olympius, contact FLEETCOM, we have well over one thousand enemy craft in the Saturn system."
"Underway, Captain Fowler. FLEETCOM, this is Olympius from the Conquistador, be advised, there is well over one thousand enemy vessels in the Saturn system. Enemy engagement is inevitable."
"Olympius, get me those MAC rounds now!"
"I'm on it, sir. MACs at 93 percent and rising at 3 percent per minute."
"I want two rounds to break those shields, and A through G to finish 'em off. Also, arm H through M for a secondary attack. After our initial strike, get me those MAC operational ASAP."
"Aye aye, sir? Sir, MAC rounds at 100 percent. Will fire when ready, just give me the word!"
"Olympius, fire in three, two, one!" The Conquistador's bulkheads reverberated, and the whole vessel shook with the recoil. The lights faded, dimmed, and eventually became operational again. The Conquistador rocked back and forth as the Archer missiles exited their pods. A massive salvo of two hundred missiles arched towards their intended targets. The fast approaching enemy vessels armed their selves also. A stretch of silvery-blue light began to glow on the midsection of the enemy vessels. Even at this distance, the light was unbearable and Captain Fowler had to close his eyes to so as to not become blinded.
The glow of the light on the enemy craft flicked, and died out. The enemy had returned fire on the Conquistador and began defending itself. The first MAC round impacted; the enemy's shields absorbed it, and the second round impacted a second later. The shield absorbed the initial blast, and was overcome by the second. Over one hundred speckles of fire erupted on the ships side. The soundless explosion of fire and destruction ripped open the ship's port side. White atmosphere began to vent away from the ship, and the mangled wreckage drifted away from the ship. The second blast followed suit, and gutted the ship from port to starboard. The ebony void of space was visible through the ships interior. The enemy vessel's lights flicked for a moment, and faded away for eternity.
The remainder of fleet opened fire on the Covenant fleet, and they returned fire. In quick secession, two frigates and one battlecruiser were lost in the defining moments of the battle. The first salvo of MAC rounds from Titan and Rhea fired, capturing the Covenant fleet in a deadly crossfire. The fleet's carrier battle groups withdrew to the rear of the fleet, and their Seraph fighters began to engage the Longsword interceptors. The Covenant fleet split into two groups, and each targeted a separate moon, completely ignoring the human fleet. The human vessels did likewise, and circled around both groups of the Covenant, trapping them between themselves and the moons.
"Olympius, fire one of the SHIVA III warheads into the center of the group. Get me those MAC rounds operational stat!" A white trail ejected from the Conquistador into the center of the enemy formation. It exploded, but the sound was lost for eternity in the vacuum of space. The rear echelons of the two fleets turned to acknowledge the human presence. By that time, three salvos from the moon based Super MACs had ripped through the heart of the two fleets. There was still well over 800 vessels still in the fight.
Caught in the mix of it, the Conquistador maneuvered into a more favorable position. "Plasma torpedoes locked on! Prepare for impact in five!" A dozen plasma torpedoes, completely obliterating it's combat armor, struck the Conquistador. "Vent all atmosphere in decks 3 through 7. Seal all air locks!" Twenty-two more human vessels had been knocked out of the fight, and the Covenant still had over 800 vessels. To make matters worse, another fleet was exiting Shaw-Fujikawa and heading in the direction of the Saturn system.
"FLEETCOM, this is the Conquistador, we are requesting reinforcements ASAP. We are loosing men quickly and the Covenant has just received reinforcements. Repeat, we are engaging overwhelming forces, reinforcements requested immediately." A reply never came. Ten minutes into the battle, and the human fleet had lost close to sixty vessels, and 32 MAC emplacements. Comparatively, the Covenant had lost well over one hundred vessels, and still had over 1500 in-system. The humans were fighting a loosing battle, and the circumstances had gotten worse. By now, smoldering wreckage littered the battlefield, completely making the radar tracking devices useless.
Two squadrons of Seraph fighters were engaging the Conquistador's, and the Longswords were doing their best to keep them at bay. "Fire Archer missile pods A through I!" Captain Fowler ordered Olympius as cold sweat dripped from his face. "Firing! Sir, we just lost the Freedom Bird, Devil Dog, and Herculean. Our forces are dwindling, I suggest we retreat and regroup in the Jupiter system, and let the Super MAC guns keep them at bay."
"That is not an option Olympius! We will stay in the Saturn system until the last man has fallen!"
"Sir, the Covenant fleet has just landed ground forces on Titan and Rhea. I suggest we bombard the moons surface and send those ass monkeys to hell!"
"By god, Olympus, that's the smartest thing you've said all day! Fire at will, keep those Covenant bastards from destroying the generators!" Two MAC rounds plummeted towards Titan's surface, and exploded in a hail of silver-white light. Fifty Archer missiles streaked towards the moons surface, and obliterated everything their paths. At that time, silver-white light streaked right in front of the main view screen. It impacted a Covenant vessel not a hundred kilometers away, entering through the bottom and exiting the top, completely gutting the craft.
"Captain, incoming plasma torps! Impact in five!"
"Fire the auxiliary jet boosters! Get us out of their course!" The Conquistador lurched from side to side as the emergency thrusters were fired. Two plasma torpedoes impacted the stern of the ship, completely melting through the combat armor and paralyzing the vessel. "Captain, our main power supply to the engine has been destroyed! We're sitting ducks!"
"Then I guess we're gonna take as many of those bastards as we can!" The human fleet began to dwindle in numbers as the Covenant fleet began counterattacking, and going for the Super MAC guns on the moon's surfaces. Captain Fowler saw two battlecruisers limp off the battlefield, and be destroyed by a stray plasma torpedo or MAC round. He slammed his fist against the bulkheads of the Conquistador. "Olympius, get FLEETCOM on the horn. Inform them that the Saturn system is lost. Also, fire off our last two SHIVA III warheads. We're going to take as many of them as we can!"
The two remaining SHIVA warheads jettisoned away from the Conquistador and into the heart of the Covenant fleet. They exploded in a ball of white destruction. As the fallout began to disappear, four Covenant ships had been obliterated, and a five paralyzed beyond repair. The Covenant began to sweep through the Saturn system, cleaning up any immobile human vessels. "Captain Fowler, should I destroy all of our databanks?"
"No need Olympius, they've found Earth. Good bye, comrade." Olympius's hallow image vanished from the holopanel as Captain Fowler deactivated the ships command systems. "Good bye, fellow soldiers. It has been privilege and a pleasure to serve with you." Captain Fowler saluted the command crew on the bridge, and they returned his salute. "Good bye for now men."
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