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2350 Hours, November 2, 2552 (Military Calendar)/
UNSC Destroyer Isaac Brock under repair in the Sirius Alpha System

The enormous repair and refit station overwhelmed the size of all five of the vessels in the system. Onboard its technicians both in and outside of it in atmospheric-pressurized suits facilitating repairs. Although the mobile station was no replacement for the dockyards in the Sol or Alpha Centuri systems it could accommodate all three vessels and would bring them back to operational capacity at least until full repairs could be made in port. The two vessels which had escorted it had taken up the patrol that the Muhammad and Isaac Brock were originally on, and there was still no contacts on long range sensors or detected by the nearby Geneva listening post. This news wasn't of much comfort to many on Sirius Alpha I who had already begun to evacuate the planet, but because of a limited number of vessels with a Shaw-Fujikawa drive the process was slow. Millions were still on the planet fearing for their lives, and the small garrison of UNSC marines was inconsequential in maintaining any semblance of order. The Covenant was within reach of the planet and they feared for their lives almost as much as the civilians did.

In space there was a little more control, the UNSC fleet, although it had taken a very rough beating was intact and had defeated the enemy. Ammunition was being replenished, and with every plate of Titanium-A armor welded to their superstructures the UNSC ships became more of a threat to any that would trespass that space. Roland's bridge had even regained its familiar atmosphere as the overhead lights, and the monitors were repaired. Apollo's pedestal which had suffered a projection error was back up and running normally, even Lieutenant Farrell's replacement had taken his station.

"Urgent message from the Huron, sir," the even younger Ensign Jordan said from communications. "Captain Trainor, reports enemy contact."

"Put him on," Roland ordered.

"Attention UNSC forces, enemy scout vessel located orbiting the star, deploying Longsword wing to engage and destroy," Trainor said methodically. For a moment the bridge remained silent as they waited in anticipation to hear more. "The enemy's detected our interceptors and is preparing to jump out of the system – tell our boys to launch missiles immediately. Don't let it get away." The captain said to his officers but still audibly heard over the comm system. There was indistinctive chatter for a few seconds before the captain got back on. "We lost him."

Roland didn't like the news, their fears about the Covenant coming were confirmed and now it was only a matter of time before they came in full force. It was a guessing game to be exact, when they would come, how many, would they engage right away or wait and formulate a strategy?

"How long until the Bastille can complete repairs and get us into the fight again?" Roland asked.

Apollo was the first one to rise to the occasion "Minimum ETA is four hours forty-three minutes, baring any unforeseen circumstances of course."

"Maintain our stance then, but take any measures you can see that'll speed up the repairs. I don't want to be a sitting duck for as little time as possible."

To say the Isaac Brock's main bay was crowded was understatement, dozens of crew members from all five vessels in the system as well as some of the repair crew from the Bastille worked within the large room. Every single Pelican was out of its magnetic storage racks on the bulkheads, and either hovered above the bay or was out in the black ferrying supplies already. In amongst all this fray Master Sergeant Fredrick Barrows and his squad of marines oversaw the operations. The sergeant was a veteran of a dozen military engagements with the Covenant alone, his most recent tour was fighting the enemy on Sigma Octanus, he was wounded twice in that operation and had to be evacuated during the initial landings. He was hardcore to the bone, and to his squad it was a wonder why he was not an Orbital Drop Shock Trooper. Most suspected he was even to extreme for their ranks. Barrows had a simple task for now, he just had to make sure that everything during their repairs went well, and where he could, help the process along. He was not a fan of space engagements, ship to ship of course; he never saw any action that way. Getting vaporized by a plasma torpedo was not a way to go for a marine, he'd rather be fighting the enemy face to face on board a vessel or if it couldn't be helped on the ground. He ascribed to the old logic, a marine was a ship's soldier, and unfortunately the Covenant didn't give them a chance to use that role.

"How many more of those containers are we expecting?" Barrows asked the engineering tech that was helping supervise one of the Pelicans which had arrived from the Waterloo.

"At least five more, most of them are filled with deck, armor, and wall plating for the ship," she replied. "The crews unloading Pelican Bravo-321 could use some help though bringing replacement small arms to the armory."

"Yes maam," Barrows replied, and then switched on his headset microphone. "All right ladies, five volunteers on the double, to Bravo-321, and get those weapons stowed and locked in the armory. Don't let me catch you sleeping!"

The sergeant grinned, he used to a private too, but he was just lucky and smart enough to survive until he was an NCO, and put the same fear of God into those grunts under his command. Barrows straightened his cap and took a walk around the bay. It was hot enough from all the bodies and the Pelican engines that it felt more like a plasma torpedo was about to impact. In reality the sergeant knew that he was only a tour away from either a training or a desk job, which would not be the end of the world but as it really did get closer to it as the Covenant got closer to Earth he felt all the more responsible to stay on board and fight the good fight. That would be months away in any event and for that reason he was going to put his attention on the present, there was a job to be done.

0500 Hours, October 3, 2552 (Military Calendar)/
UNSC Destroyer Isaac Brock under repair in the Sirius Alpha System

He'd gotten only four hours of real rest that night; hardly enough to recover his body but nevertheless Captain Roland was back on the bridge. He had to be, Apollo's message was to distressing not to. The Covenant had arrived.

There was not a section on the vessel which was not rushing to accomplish a task, and abuzz with activity. All three vessels were in the process of decoupling from the Bastille, the Prophet Muhammad was almost as good as new but the Confidence and Isaac Brock were another story. The cruiser's external damage had been patched but there had been no time to reinforce it, compared to the nearly three meters of solid Titanium-A armor which guarded the majority of the hull the repairs put in place only twenty centimeters worth. The reactor was operating only at eighty percent, and one of the MAC guns was still inoperative. The Isaac Brock's main engines were still down, and its best speed was more like a crawl. The only saving grace was that all the weapons systems were armed and fully operational. The two frigates were in the meantime moving to rendezvous with the rest of the fleet giving the UNSC strength at total of five vessels. Unfortunately sensors showed and enemy force of equal size: one carrier, two cruisers, and two frigates. Against the wounded force of humans they appeared to possess every advantage. For the moment though tactical and strategic command still rested in Roland's hands, and he needed to make a decision quickly. The enemy was stationary for the moment, at the edge of the system just as they had done before, but they would not remain that way for long. There was a combined payload of about ten plasma torpedoes against them in a single volley, two for each vessel which was more than enough to take them all out.

"Move us into orbit around Sirius Alpha, and order the rest of the fleet to do the same," Roland ordered. Then he stepped over to a console and typed in a set of coordinates nearby the star. "Put us right at these coordinates Ensign Seville."

"Captain," Apollo began. "I don't need to remind you by positioning the fleet within the gravitational influence of a star is a grave tactical error. If you intend to use the magnetic influence to deflect the enemy plasma there is insufficient field density at a safe enough range to affect the torpedoes at all."

"Apollo, for the moment, just trust me," he told the AI, and immediately the order was followed without any objection. The captain planned a risky maneuver that was based on a few random observations and a lot of assumptions. If he could make it work though he might still be able to save his small beleaguered fleet from destruction. The Huron turned around and headed back the way it came meanwhile the other four vessels headed to the star as well. "Initiate the Cole Protocol right now, and order all vessels to launch every available Longsword interceptor they have."

"Yakasora charge the MACs, and arm every missile pod we've got. Put one of our Shiva's in as well, I want to give these guys a warm welcome, get every vessel to do the same." The Isaac Brock was in the rear of the movement, there wasn't enough power to push the vessel much faster.

This time the Covenant were much more aggressive, they advanced in system as soon as they saw the UNSC movement. They didn't do a pinpoint jump however, instead relying on their normal propulsion. The carrier however remained at the system edge, appearing content to watch the battle from a distance. It made little difference however; the two cruisers and frigates were the brawn of the force in any event.

"MACs charging at three percent per second, and all vessels report Longswords launched, a total of twelve birds are flying guard sir," the commander declared.

"Order all vessels to form up tight once we reached the coordinates, there can't be more than fifty meters separating each one of the ships," Roland said.

"Captain, that could be tricky considering our maneuvering thrusters are operating below normal levels," Seville warned.

"Do your best ensign; just make sure we're facing the enemy, that's the important thing."

The enemy in the meantime was gaining on the UNSC fleet, and points of red light were already beginning to grow on the sides of the vessels. They were intent on destroying their fleet, and weren't even waiting to turn before charging the torpedoes. The destruction of the first cruiser the day before must have enraged them, Roland thought.

"Huron and Waterloo report they are in position, and the Bastille has successfully jumped from the system sir," Ensign Jordan declared.

Roland watched the viewscreen intently, it was focused on the Covenant vessels which were growing larger as they got closer to them, and the charging torpedo's light grew more intense. He could only hope that his gamble would hold true, else the fleet would be nothing more than molten slag in less than ten minutes. Slowly but surely the remaining three vessels took up a box formation along the vertical plane with the Confidence in the center and the frigates and destroyers in the corners. The Covenant meanwhile were positioning themselves in a line with the cruisers in the center and frigates at either end. They on the other hand put a great deal more distance between each ship.

"Captain!" Yakasora urgently exclaimed. "The MACs are draining sir, there's some kind of interference that's destabilizing the fields. We're losing charge at one percent per second."

The captain smiled at the news, however. "Apollo see what you can do to compensate for the meantime, and inform the fleet to do the same we only need to buy time."

The Covenant, with fully charged torpedoes, seeing stationary and weakened targets could see victory in sight. Eight torpedoes launched and their shimmering red glow dotted the blackness of space.

"Torpedoes launched, sir," Seville announced. "Impact in twenty five seconds."

"Get our Longswords out of the way and launch those Shiva missiles, and every heavy round we've got. Target the cruisers!" Roland ordered. Within three seconds all five vessels were shook by the recoil of the MAC rounds rocketing from within their hulls. The rocket plumes moved in suit, as the projectiles from opposing vessels intercepted each other less than half the distance to the UNSC fleet. Neither force moved from their positions, the Covenant's was based on blind courage, the UNSC's on one man's prayer.

"Sir, the MAC cannons aren't recharging sir! I can't form a stable field!" Yakasora exclaimed.

"Captain shall I make evasive maneuvers?" Seville asked in expectation.

"No, hold steady, prepare to activate engines full forward and recharge the MACs on my mark," Roland replied. The torpedoes just grew closer in the meantime.

"Impact in five, sir," Seville said shakily. "Four, three, two-" Then just as the torpedoes were about to engulf the fleet, the balls of superheated gas suddenly dissipated. The solar activity that they'd been detecting had been just powerful enough to counteract the magnetic force that stabilized the Covenant torpedoes.

"Go! Get us out of the sun's orbit!" Roland declared. All the ship's engines suddenly came to life and jolted the ships forward. In the distance the UNSC weapons went forward undaunted, two heavy rounds missed their targets, but the other six made the mark. Four were perfect marks for the first cruiser and broke through the ship's shields and had enough momentum still to inflict minor damage. The other two hit the starboard cruiser flaring it's shields however they soon lost their energy and were diverted away harmlessly. The missiles quickly caught up with the MAC rounds and the enemy pulse lasers attempted to fend off the swarm. Then four separate momentary suns billowed from where the Covenant fleet was. A nuclear fire consumed the area, no glare from the enemy shields could be seen from within the eruption. The viewscreen on the Isaac Brock's bridge flared white and didn't return for a second. When it did the first cruiser simply wasn't there while the second was in shambles and atmosphere vented from dozens of spots along its side. The two frigates however had suffered no structural damage at all and were preparing another volley of torpedoes and beginning evasive maneuvers.

"MAC status?" Roland demanded as he watched the two remaining targets preparing to reengage.

"Twenty-six percent and climbing, two percent per second," Yakasora replied.

Too slow, the captain thought. Each of their five vessels were in such different conditions to coordinate another volley was impractical. "Ensign Jordan order all vessels to fire at will and engage in ship to ship combat!"
"Aye, Aye, sir."

The two UNSC frigates responded immediately and darted forward only led by the faster Longsword interceptors which were preparing to deliver strafing fire to the enemy. The Huron launched a heavy MAC round against the nearest enemy vessel but it missed the mark and the UNSC vessel was soon bombarded by a blaze of pulse laser fire.

"This is Bravo-three-eight, unloading ordinance," the interceptor squadron leader declared. "Missiles are away, yeehaw!"

The twelve interceptors launched a full load of heavy missiles at the same frigate as the Huron was engaging and then quickly put their ships into a tight bank and fell back out of the enemy's effective range. The rockets meanwhile impacted against the shield and lit it up from the series of impacts.

The Confidence and Prophet Muhammad came up on the same target each firing a compliment of Archer missiles against the frigate. The enemy having a fully charged torpedo ready suddenly stopped its maneuvering and came to a complete halt. Every missile launched could not help but hit the target, but really the damage was superficial and only weakened the shields. The Covenant frigate meanwhile launched its torpedo, a danger that none of the UNSC ships could ignore. It streaked through space illuminating the blackness, the Confidence and Muhammad were quick to respond firing four heavy MAC rounds straight towards the enemy frigate. The torpedo wasn't as fast as the slug but it had the advantage of being fired first. The Huron engaged its emergency thrusters desperately trying to evade the plasma, but it continued to track them. The MAC rounds impacted on the enemy shield first but their combined force broke through the screen in a second. The four rounds made perfect marks through the enemy tearing through the entire side of the vessel. Atmosphere ejected from all the wounds and the frigate began to spin erratically. Its torpedo continued undaunted, however, towards the Huron.

"To all UNSC vessels, we're abandoning ship, repeat we are abandoning the Huron," Captain Trainor's voice declared in desperation. The torpedo closed the distance between itself and the ship, the Huron was a Renaissance-class frigate, which had the fastest sub light speeds of all the UNSC warships, but still it was no match for the plasma.

Roland observed the chase on the TAC display, "Trainor, pull your vessel out of the system; make a jump, save the Huron." The task force commander ordered.

"Negative Isaac Brock," Trainor disobeyed. "The moment we make the jump they'll redirect it to another ship, and two vessels are out of the fight. I'm going to try and make it into the sun's magnetic influence like beforehand."

"Confirmed," Roland acknowledged. "Good luck captain." The captain could see on the display the Huron didn't have a chance, she just wasn't fast enough. Bumblebee life pods jettisoned from the frigate with quick flashes along the side of its hull. As the plasma grew closer the risk grew greater as one pod failed to get enough velocity and was consumed by the fire before it could get clear. Sensors began picking up a number of friendly tags appearing, half a dozen life pods and a pair of Pelicans. The Huron was a hundred kilometers from safety when it was struck by the torpedo. It was immediately knocked off course and secondary explosions ruptured throughout the rear of the vessel as the atmosphere within the ship ignited. The torpedo gouged over fifty meters squared of armor from the frigate. But from its original velocity and the gravitational influence of the Sirius Alpha star it was dragged in.

"Trainor! Get your people off of the Huron now!" Roland commanded.

There was silence for a second as the frigate drifted closer towards the star's corona. "Engines are down, all weapons systems offline, internals are at twelve percent trying to stabilize her," the frigate's captain could be heard saying over the static and explosions. Two more life pods left the Huron but that was all, the frigate soon disappeared from sensors consumed by the heat and gravity of the star. The Covenant frigate which fired the torpedo in the meantime was still not out of action. The Prophet Muhammad fired another volley of heavy MAC rounds and scored another two hits but again failed to hit the frigate in a vital section.

The second Covenant frigate was meanwhile engaged in a desperate battle with the Waterloo as both were apparently equal strength as the enemy had taken more damage from the Shiva missiles then at first glance it appeared. The Isaac Brock in the meantime moved up to the support the lone frigate but was hindered by the slow operation of its main engine. Pulse laser fire and Archer missiles were exchanged between the two engaged frigates but both wiped aside the damage and went on.

"Get a firing solution on that vessel's forward side; gut them from stem to stern!" Roland barked. The Isaac Brock was then shook by the recoil as its two heavy rounds launched, the enemy moved with so much speed that only one made contact and it wasn't where it was aiming for. The Covenant realizing the new threat slowed down to take aim at the oncoming destroyer giving the Waterloo its chance to strike. Still speeding full ahead her MAC round brought down the shield and dug thirty meters into the hull. The UNSC craft followed up with a compliment of Archer missiles and explosions peppered the exterior of the enemy ship. But as both vessels readied for the enemy to return fire it simply slowed stayed its course and its weapons silent.

"Apollo what's it doing?" Roland was quick to ask.

"Its power readings are low sir, by my estimation it seems that we've struck a critical section, it appears to be disabled," the AI replied.

"Well let's not give it a chance to recover," the captain announced. "Yakasora prepare another two heavy rounds; put them out of their misery."

"Sir, new enemy contact! The carrier had jumped into the system and is powering up weapons systems," Seville informed him.

More good news, Roland thought. The Prophet Muhammad had just suffered a blow to its primary weapons array and was almost toothless, meanwhile the Confidence still had its hands full with dispatching of the feisty Covenant frigate. "Tell Bravo three-eight to move to engage enemy Seraph fighters while the Waterloo and Brock take up fire support," Roland told the young communications officer.

The enemy carrier was quick to respond and immediately opened up with its forward pulse laser array striking the two approaching UNSC vessels. The armor took a beating but did not breach, between the three warships the single ship fighters began to engage one another, it was over thirty Covenant fighter-bombers against the dozen Longswords, the UNSC had no hope of winning alone. Covenant plasma destroyed two interceptors before they could even get a missile lock on the enemy. One Longsword managed to take down a pair of Seraphs before it was reduced to molten slag, and others in the squadron suffered the same fate until only four remained.

"This is Bravo three-eight we're bugging out," the static filled channel declared. "There's too many of them, requesting capital ship support." Then an explosion resounded through the communications as their number was reduced to three. The Longswords retreated back behind the cover of the Waterloo and Isaac Brock but the Seraphs did not pursue. Instead they held position keeping a barrier in front of the carrier keeping the two warships out of effective range while they prepared a plasma torpedo.

The two vessels approached the fighters undaunted, but a torpedo was launched aimed straight at the Waterloo. Rocket plumes, pulse lasers, and plasma bolts darted through the void. Explosions marked successful hits as craft simply disappeared off the UNSC TAC displays. Still the onslaught continued and plasma scorched through the Titanium-A armor that protected the human vessels.

"Forward armor at twelve percent! We can't take much more of this abuse sir," the commander declared from the weapons console. The vessel shook with each and every impact.

"Apollo get me a firing solution on that carrier and once we have a full MAC charge give them hell!" Roland ordered as he wiped the sweat from his brow. The plasma torpedo growing ever closer, but both vessels charged ahead. A Seraph was consumed by his own side's weapon but still the moving eruption of flame did not cease.

"Hull breach on B deck, sealing blast doors," Crewman Petrov declared from his station behind the captain's chair. The situation was desperate and the enemy torpedo only got closer.

"Apollo what is going on with those MAC guns?" Roland boomed.

"Ninety-six percent, ninety-eight. MAC coils fully charged on both the Waterloo and Isaac Brock" Apollo declared calmly.

"Fire the damn things!"

And like that three bolts of lightning emerged from the hulls of the two vessels and streaked towards the stationary carrier. It was already too late though the plasma was only a second's distance away from the UNSC vessels when it passed the MAC rounds. The Waterloo made a bold move holding a steady course until at the last moment engaging its emergency thrusters, but the torpedo turned and caught the middle of the ship and gouged a line through the port armor all the way to the engines. Five decks were entirely exposed and the torpedo itself dug over thirty meters into the hull. The effect was devastating, explosive decompressions and fires killed a quarter of the crew instantly and if were not for the quick action of those of the bridge and engineering who sealed the areas off the entire crew could have perished. The blow however knocked the vessel off course and with the momentum from its attempted evasive maneuver was directed on a collision with the Isaac Brock none of the bridge crew had time to recognize the danger and do anything fast enough, even Apollo only managed to fire the Brock's own thrusters at the last instant. The frigate collided amid ship with the destroyer its momentum crumpled both vessels armor plating and the Isaac Brock soon found itself coupled to the Waterloo and unable to detach. The captain ordered all stop before the hull stress from the main engines tore an even bigger hole. The frigate had severed three decks and entered a full two sections into the other vessel.

"What's our status?" Was really all Roland could hope to ask for at that time.

"Casualties reported throughout the ship, life support is gone on two decks the crew has been put on respirators for the moment. Engineering reports heavy structural damage and recommends we disengage immediately," the AI announced. "Sir I believe the only appropriate measure at this time is to abandon ship."

"No, we've had to almost do that once and I'm not giving this ship up while she's still got fight left in her!" the captain barked at the always dispassionate artificial intelligence. "Load up the last of our Archer missiles and another Shiva, we're going to finish these guys off whether they like it or not."

"Captain I can't stabilize the ship, thruster control is non-functional," Seville turned and said, blood running down her cheek from a fresh cut.

"It doesn't matter so long as we can get a clean lock with the missiles," Roland declared on a one-minded mission. On the TAC display in the distance the Covenant frigate which had been preoccupying the Prophet Muhammad and Confidence disappeared in a flash. That left only one enemy still with some fight left but the UNSC fleet had very little left in them as well. The Covenant carrier in the meantime was almost finished charging another torpedo. Suddenly an idea struck the Captain as he watched the red light grow larger on the enemy vessel.

"Yakasora re-task our missiles, aim all of them at that turret proximity detonation five meters," Roland ordered.

"Five meters sir?"

"Just do it commander!" the vessel's commanding officer snapped. "Apollo can you determine the time when the energy levels of those torpedoes reach critical?"

"Based upon prior records and data I could hypothesize when the enemy will launch the torpedo if that is what you require."

"Good, send those missiles you're the proper sequence and get them to detonate precisely when they expel that torpedo."

"Captain, I must remind you that the accuracy of the missiles as well as the small size of the target make a precise hit almost impossible."

"It doesn't have to be precise; I want you to blanket that entire area with every explosive we've got flying out there."

As the red energy built up the missiles continued on course, and the enemy fired pulse lasers in kind to intercept the missiles. Just as the ball of plasma had achieved critical energy the missiles under Apollo's timing struck. The first was too early and the shield around the area was still up but the rest followed in quick order. In rapid succession almost a dozen Archer missiles hit an area no larger than five meters across. The explosive force actually cascaded the plasma inwards before the magnetic field could be directed away from the vessel. Plasma and explosives vaporized twenty meters of the carrier before the magnetic generator controlling the torpedo was shut down. The turret in the meantime was completely destroyed.

The carrier having suffered a good deal of damage and already lost the rest of it squadron was compelled to flee, yet it did not. Instead it powered its engines and moved closer to get within effective range of its pulse lasers and launched another wing of Seraphs. Dealing with this carrier was becoming problematic, it seemed more than willing to throw itself away for the chance to destroy anymore humans, but the UNSC couldn't afford to lose much more.

"Captain I detect boarding craft on approach towards us sir," Ensign Seville announced disheartened.

All their missiles were gone and movement of any kind wasn't an option, they were sitting ducks, fish in a barrel, and now apparently the enemy wanted to get the taste of hand to hand combat. A battle in space wasn't enough.

"Order all marines to take posts on possible external entry points, fire teams to take up positions at all critical sections, and areas. Whatever happens try and battle them back to their ships."

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