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First Contact; Chapter 4: Planning
Posted By: retsamolah<samesdios@yahoo.com>
Date: 14 August 2003, 4:51 AM
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UNSC Heracles, December 21, 2519
Captain Veredi was in a state of shock. Being sent on an important, but still routine scouting mission, and finding on the other end the worst fear he, or any other human had ever faced was obviously quite unsettling. He thought back to the battle; his maneuver, hitting the alien vessel with a full volley of standard MAC rounds. They did nothing, he thought. These aliens are god damned invincible!
Shiva had done all she could to patch up the ragged hole in the side of the starship, and managed to keep the ship in slipspace for most of the way to Reach. They had been forced to return to normal space after one of the bulkheads collapsed under the tremendous strain of passage through the slipstream. They were only .02 Lightyears from Reach, but Veredi swore at the prospect of spending an extra six days grinding through normal space.
They finally got there, however, and were met by almost the full fleet after their initial transmission of hostile activity in the Harvest system. The crippled destroyer, still smoking from the massive wound in its side, was a startling sight to the welcoming commanders.
Tugs immediately docked with the ship, and brought it up to the orbiting shipyards as fast as possible while the crew were led off on boarding pods to the UNSC Pharris where the Veredi's debriefing was conducted as fast as possible.
UNSC Pharris, December 19, 2519
"Tell us exactly what happened," said one of the ship's psychologists who always accompanied combat captains to their debriefing. The stress of warfare in the stars had a history of causing valuable commanders to break down after heavy fighting.
"I told you. There was an alien warship. It effortlessly annihilated the frigates and we barely managed to escape. It took a full volley of MAC rounds and 60 Sparrow Nuclear Missiles without a scratch. We re—"
"That's impossible!" broke in Captain Raynor, commander of the Pharris. "That type of firepower would utterly destroy one of our heavy assault carriers. Nothing can survive that many hits."
"This ship did," insisted Veredi. "As I was saying, intercepted communications identified the enemy as 'The Covenant', and 'Your destruction is the will of the Gods... and we are their instrument' was broadcasted directly to our ship. Shiva can replay the whole battle and transmissions for you. I'm sorry I can't tell you more; that is just what I saw."
"It's all right, Commander," reassured the psychologist. "We will go over the tapes of the battle and decide on the fleet's course of action. None of this is your fault, please try to relax." Veredi did, but the obvious tenseness of the other men in the room was unnerving. They spoke quietly in low voices while he sat back, exhausted, in the chair.
"All right; that will be all," said Raynor, and all the men got up and left. The psychologist walked with Veredi back to his quarters, leaving Pharris's commander alone in the briefing room. He punched up the vid of the first Human/Covenant battle, and shook his head sadly as he envisioned what this would mean for the Human race. If one ship can destroy almost and entire battlegroup and they are bent on our destruction, we are all going to die!
The Frigate, Arabia, exploded on the holographic display."
UNSC Flagship Atlas, January 1, 2520
On the first day of the New Earth Year, the full fleet under Vice Admiral Preston Cole had rendezvoused in the Reach system with orders to fly to Harvest and destroy the alien forces. Cole stood on the bridge of his Assault Carrier, brooding over the inevitable battle to come. He had seen the vids of Veredi's battle with one Covenant ship dozens of times, and was still awed by how the Covenant wrought such absolute destruction with such grace and power. The greatest military minds humanity could muster in its time of need had analyzed and reanalyzed every tactical advantage possible from those 30 seconds of battle. His 60 ship fleet had been retrofitted with the new Super MACs that would hopefully punch through that energy shield. He had been briefed again and again on how to maneuver in battle to get the highest efficiency from his ships, and how to use his weapons to deal the most possible damage. By all standards, the fleet was ready for combat with any opponent. However, Cole was still eating himself alive with worry over his ability to command the fleet. The pressure was tremendous; if he lost, Humanity would almost certainly fall. They would still have their small reserve fleets, but they would hardly stop a full on Covenant attack. Cole pressed the button to transmit his voice to every ship in the fleet.
"UNSC Commanders, this is Vice Admiral Cole. We all launch in formation in 5 minutes. If we make full slipspace velocity, we will arrive in the Harvest system in about one week. I will speak to you again within a day of our arrival.
God speed."
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