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Sniper's Action
Posted By: MarkiSallo<reddragon19335@yahoo.com>
Date: 12 October 2005, 11:34 pm
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The Longbow class of vessels were originally designed in 2532 as an advanced method of bombarding rebel bases. Large enough to carry a particle accelerator and powerful to maintain the accelerator's charging sequence, the Longbow class could send a round (six moles of solid hydrogen gas) into an enemy target at near lightspeed velocities. However, the magnetic accelerator cannon was invented shortly after the first particle accelerator was mounted, and later Longbows had the MAC instead of the particle accelerator. The particle accelerator had a much lower firing rate compared to the MAC weapon.The UNSC would have repelled the Covenant sooner, if they had used it.
-Rear Admiral Pritchart, The First Human-Covenant War
"Ma'am, we have reports of a hostile fleet inbound."
The bridge of the UNSC Springfield was silent for a moment, Lieutenant Hanes' chair swiveled to face the other officers of the vessel. Commodore Hathoway stood immaculate in her deep-gray uniform and glanced at the holographic plot. The Springfield, marked as a green triangle, hung inside the shadow of a gas giant. A blood-red triangle had appeared just away from the planet's rings, heading on an in-bound vector to the third planet of the system.
"Update Admiral Bronzi on the situation. Tell him we are preparing to attack the enemy." Hathoway said grimly. Hanes turned back to his console as Lieutenant Grahm started speaking into the communications console.
"Ma'am, the commanders of the UNSC Donau and Rome are awaiting your orders," Grahm reported after a moment. Hathoway nodded again, watching as the single enemy red triangle became thirty-five midsize shapes.
"Relay to Donau and Rome: Head out of Saturn's shadow. Open fire once there is a line of sight." Hathoway ordered. Grahm nodded and transmitted the message. "Prepare to engage the enemy," Hathoway said quietly.
The Donau was the first to fire, the gigantic tube attached to its underside suddenly charging with unseen energy. With a soundless discharge, a twenty kilogram clump of solid tungsten whipped across space at .81 c. It hurtled towards the unsuspecting purple ships.
The lead, lithe ship suddenly found itself spinning off of course, atmosphere venting from a huge, gaping hole located on the nose. It stumbled away from the tight formation of its fellows.
The Rome fired its particle accelerator, slamming another Covenant cruiser in its long neck. The violet ship reeled from the wound, engines flickering. The Springfield's round snapped a smaller Covenant destroyer into two halves; they broke apart in ragged shards, lights still blinking as if in surprise at its sudden destruction.
On the bridge of the Springfield, Hathoway grinned in a particularly nasty way. "Cycle the bolt and continue firing," she ordered.
****
Fleet Master Decius watched as another one of his proud ships was decimated by some strange weapon. The impossible weapons cut through the energy shields like they were not there! And, there were still no ships on sensors! What was going on?
"All ships: break and search for these enemies!" Decius barked. The range was too far for the monkey's primitive projectile launchers, and a missile would have been detected long before it impacted on the fleet.
The Covenant fleet broke from its tight formation, ships heading in all directions. Decius watched his fleet dwindle by three until there were only ten ships remaining. The Brute growled in anger. To be stopped by a mere three enemy ships, hiding like the cowards they are...
"Fleet Master! The Death's Advocate reports an enemy ship just outside of the planet's rings!" an officer reported.
"Kill it."
****
"Springfield, this is the Donau. The Covenant are getting nosy; one of their carriers has picked us up," Captain Karlmann said, his voice rising. Hathoway watched a large red triangle head towards the green symbol of the Donau. Three crosses of white suddenly spawned from the red shape.
Fighter launches, Hathoway realized. Each cross was a Covenant Seraph fighter, and each one could destroy the lightly-armored Donau. There was nothing that could be done for the doomed ship.
Instead, Hathoway listened to the heavy clank of the 'bolt' cycling through the accelerator. A moment later, the particle accelerator discharged. The Springfield would avenge the Donau by running a round through that Covenant bastard.
The Death's Advocate took the tungsten round in dead amidships, the projectile striking a reactor and causing secondary explosions around the ship. The carrier reeled downwards, its engines fluttering. A second round sliced into the Advocate's lower hull, throughly ruining the control center of the vessel. A third and final round finally destroyed the vessel by cutting through the remainder of the ship, from stem to stern.
The elation of the kill wore off suddenly when the Donau's green triangle vanished from the holographic plot.
****
"Sir, three other enemy ships have been identified. One of them is an intelligence ship!" the tactical officer stated. Decius turned towards the Brute officer.
"A grand prize, that stealth ship. and if our ships fell by threes, those could be the last enemies. Make them pay for the Death's Advocate," Decius barked. The Covenant ships began to head towards the final two enemy positions, forming into two lines. Decius' vessel formed the one of those lines by itself.
****
"Ma'am, there are five enemy ships remaining, and they are pinging both the Rome and our ship with radar," Hanes reported. Hathoway did not answer, instead she watched the combat plot steadily. The five enemy ships had broken into two formations of four and one.
"Take out the straggler, Lieutenant," Hathoway said.
"Aye, ma'am," Hanes answered, turning back to his console and pressing a firing control. Another thump echoed through the Springfield as it sent its twenty-kilogram sniping round downrange.
The tungsten round missed by a hairs-breath: a scant three kilometers. The Covenant command ship entered within range of the Rome, and fired a volley of plasma torpedoes. The Rome managed to snap off one more shot before the torpedoes detonated. The short, stubby ship exploded in a cloud of super-hot gases and metals.
The sniper round slammed into the nose of the command ship, gutting it from stem to stern. At the end of its journey through the vessel, the round touched on the singularity-reactor.
Decius' ship exploded in a purple flare of energy and shards of metal, and Hathoway felt a brief feeling of satisfaction. She was immediately brought back down with Hanes' next report.
"The Rome is gone, ma'am. There are three Covenant ships on an intercept course," Hanes announced quietly. Hathoway took a deep breath. She never expected to win, anyway. Instead, she opened a communications channel to the UNSC Dagger, an ONI stealth Prowler, charging its Slipspace near the UNSC vessel.
The Covenant vessels closed in, though the final round of the Springfield wiped out their heaviest ship. Three frigates headed closer, attempting to outrace each other for the kill.
"Springfield to Dagger. Captain Naliki," Hathoway closed her eyes as the lead Covenant destroyer launched a volley of blood-red energy torpedoes, "Earn it."
The Dagger jumped into Slipspace as the Springfield exploded into a billion tiny fragments.
****
The UNSC Dagger approached Fleet Admiral Bronzi's ship. Captain Naliki stood in his cabin, reflecting on Commodore Hathoway's final words. Earn it, she had said. Earn the chance she gave him and his vessel to survive.
A message beeped on the laptop on his desk. Naliki went to the computer, and opened the message. It was a real-time video communication with the Fleet Admiral himself.
"Dagger reporting. I have coordinates of the key Covenant shipyards." Naliki said, saluting.
Fleet Admiral Bronzi smiled. "Then we snipe them out tonight. Those Covenant bastards will never know what hit 'em."
While Admiral Bronzi's assumption was understandable, the Covenant fleet did manage to ascertain that the four projectiles that had sliced apart four key Covenant shipyards were made of tungsten. What they did not realize was that the projectiles each had a name etched into them at the last minute. The first read, "To the Covenant, with love." The other three read, one name after the other: 'Springfield', 'Rome', and 'Donau'. This started the tradition of recording fallen ships' names onto Longbow particle accelerator sniping rounds. Later notable rounds include the 'Pillar of Autumn', used to destroy a key Covenant sensor post, the 'Harvest', used to gut a Covenant command ship, and the 'SPARTAN-117', fired at the final Covenant carrier during the final battle of the first Human-Covenant War: the Battle of High Charity.
-Rear Admiral Pritchart, The First Human-Covenant War
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