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Death from Above part III: Apocalypse
Posted By: AlphaBravo343<e.moeller3@verizon.com>
Date: 13 April 2003, 3:30 AM
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Apocalypse
2145 Hours, January 12, 2552 (Military Calendar)/
UNSC Battlecruiser Horizon in orbit
Earth Airspace
They were closing in now. They were within firing range, and still, not one Covenant vessel had so much as launched a fighter.
"This is Admiral Nyquist to all UNSC battleships, pick your targets and be ready to fire on my command. Make sure you take out those Flagships first, I say again, take out those Flagships first!, Nyquist out," he said and the line fell silent.
"Lieutenant Parker, target the nearest Flagship and get me firing solutions on our MACs and Archer V missiles. They'll be running into the nuclear minefield in a few seconds," he said, glancing at Lieutenant Parker.
"Yes sir, targeting solutions on line, transferring data to tac computer," he said as he typed in the calculations.
Outside, the Covenant had met the nuclear minefield. The hundreds of nuclear blasts eclipsed the entire area, overcoming all other light. The nuclear firestorm that ensued sent out EMP waves, deactivating the shields of the nearby vessels. The exposed ships were obliterated in the blast. When the fire and smoke cleared, three hundred Covenant ships had been engulfed in the moon-sized explosion, leaving a hole in their enormous phalanx formation. They were now down to roughly 670 ships. 670 Covenant ships against 900 UNSC ships, not very good odds, but more amazing things had happened.
Two lances, needle thin, shot through space and bounced off two UNSC frigates, the Heracles and the Liberty. Their shields held, but the two ships spun wildly off course, their pilots struggled to regain control of the vessels. They slowed their spin, adjusted, and regained control.
"Flagships fired those shots," said Captain Lockheed, "Ares, if one of those Flagships targets us, detonate one of the fusion tanks the exact moment they fire."
"Yes sir, their weapon moves at light speed, so I cannot gaurantee with one hundred percent assurance that they will miss," replied the calm voice of Ares, his small form on the pedestal shimmered in the light cast from the ceiling of the bridge.
The Admiral came on the alpha channel again, "All ships, target the Flagships and be prepared to fire at my command," he said. Lockheed rechecked the targeting solution on the Flagship he had locked in. The Admiral came in again, "Fire!," he shouted, and the entire UNSC fleet and the five hundred orbital defense platforms fired simultaneously. Over a thousand heavy and super-heavy MAC rounds streaked toward the Flagships among the Covenant fleet. Seconds later, thousands of Archer V missiles streaked forward from the UNSC vessels. A few hundred MAC rounds went wide, but the vast majority found their marks and slammed through the Covenant Flagships. One hundred of the Flagships were struck and several of their fusion reactors detonated, seconds later thousands of Archer V missiles found their marks and blossomed along the hulls of the massive ships. Only four of the Flagships remained.
"What the hell is going on? Why haven't they fired yet? They didn't even fire pulse lasers to destroy the missiles." said Lockheed, and as if on cue, the Covenant ships hummed to life and lights flickered on inside the vessels. The Flagships must not have to power down when they exit slipstream space he thought to himself. Why didnt more of them fire then? he thought again. Suddenly, hundreds of motes of red light began collecting among the Covenant fleet. Their ships were readying a massive salvo of plasma fire.
The admiral spoke again over the alpha channel. "Everyone make sure your sheilds are at full charge, if you sustain more than two plasma blasts, your sheilds will give out. If your sheilds do go out, begin evasive maneuvers."
The UNSC ships fired another salvo of MAC rounds at the Covenant, and the orbital defense platforms followed suite. At the same moment, the Covenant launched their own plasma weapons. Seconds later, thousands of Archer V missiles began chasing after the MAC rounds. The two salvos of MAC rounds and plasma torpedoes met and passed each other. Seconds later, the MAC rounds slammed into the Covenant fleet, sending the smaller ships into wild, spinning arcs away from the rest of the fleet, then they were torn apart from the g-forces weighing on their punctured hulls. The larger ships were gutted by the MAC rounds, and many detonated, the rest weren't destroyed, but were out of comission. Several seconds later, the plasma torpedoes streaked toward the UNSC battleships and splashed across their sheilds. Two-hundred UNSC ships boiled and melted under the combined plasma fire, others jumped into evasive action. All at one time, hundreds of UNSC and Covenant ships jumped forward at full speed. One UNSC destroyer, the Minotaur lanced ahead at full speed, the large metal plate in the shape of an jagged arrow head that had been welded onto her stem, dug into a Covenant carrier and split her amidships. the two halves drifted apart and detonated seperately. the Minotaur turned in a wide arc, her engines beginning to reach crtical heat, and slammed through another Covenat ship. It too was severed, and the two pieces twisted apart, spreading debris in every direction. Six Covenant frigates turned and began to charge their plasma torpedoes, they were facing at the Minotaur. But before they could fire, the Minotaurs' MAC gun strobed three times at the nearest Covenant frigate, and it instantly detonated, then five small exauhst trails exited the Minotaur. Lockheed zoomed the forward camera and saw that they weren't missiles, or rather, not regular missiles. They were 100 megaton nuclear warheads. The five warheads streaked toward the surrounding Covenant frigates, and detonated in a giant sphere of nuclear fire, when the explosion cleared, the Minotaur was gone, and so were thirty other Covenant ships surrounding it.
"Target that other Flagship Lieutenant Parke-," the ship violently shot to starboard, and Lockheed was thrown to the ground. Several of the bridge officers and techs moved to help him up. "Ares, what the hell was that?" he asked with annoyance in his voice.
"I apologize sir, I had to detonate one of the fusion tanks to avoid the Flagships' weapon," answered the calm voice of the A.I.
"It's ok Ares, now, give me a targeting solution on that Flagship," he said brushing off the front of his vest. A moment later, the ship was tagged with a reticle and the A.I. spoke again.
"Targeting solution online Captain, awaiting Lieutenant Parkers' fire signal."
"Fire away Lieutenant Parker," said Lockheed as the MAC gun strobed twice, and the white hot projectiles jumped from the bottom of the battlecruiser. Two more MAC rounds, from the orbital defense platforms raced by the Horizon as hundreds of Archer V missiles launched from their tubes. Seconds later, the Flagship listed lazily to port as the first of four MAC rounds slammed into her hull. As she turned, she exposed her side, and three more MAC rounds punched through her, leaving gaping holes in her hull. Seconds later, hundreds of Archer V missiles detonated along her side, and its superstructure imploded, crushing the ship in on itself.
"Sir!, I'm picking up thousnads of Covenant troop transport ships heading for the surface!" shouted Lieutenant Hayter.
"Roger that, Lieutenant Ackerson, bring us about and line us up with those transports! Lieutenant Parker, target those ships with our Archer missiles, and fire at will!" He said and several UNSC ships turned to fire on the troop transports. Thousands of missiles screamed toward the dark cloud of ships moving toward Earth. Three thousand of them exploded, two-thousand got through. "Lieutenant Hayter, get UNSC groundside headquarters on the line, tell them Earth is being invaded!"
To be continued...
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