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The Revelation of War, Chapter Two: Part I
Posted By: russ687<russ687@hotmail.com>
Date: 20 July 2004, 10:12 PM
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Chapter Two: A Battle Unfinished
0233 hours, May 19, 2552 (Military Calendar)
Aboard UNSC Orbital Defense Station
Imbari System, in orbit above planet Imbari V
110 Days Earlier
"Excavation process on the surface is going well; we predict that the entire square kilometer will be finished within the next two days at the most. I must say, though, that the reports of weird lights being seen in the valley have been surprisingly regular, with at least nineteen separate sightings this week. Of course, our workers do not know what to think of it, and some of our engineers have only thrown out theories of what these lights are. I would suggest getting an annalist team down here to document and try and find out what causes those frequent array of lights, but in retrospect, it can remain and simple mystery for now."
Miller nodded at the screen after hearing the final remarks from his crew chief on the surface of the planet. The important thing was that progress to excavate those materials were going well. "Sounds good, keep me posted. Miller out."
He leaned back and severed the connection, and the screen went black. He looked around his small office aboard the orbital station and sighed; they had been behind schedule for the last two weeks, but the recent progress had proved especially helpful, putting them back on their original timeline of work.
Soon he could leave this planet and system and return to his family, along with a load of commissioned salary that would allow him to take a nice long vacation. This rather small planet had its nice areas, but the majority of the green forest world was uninteresting and got old fast. He chuckled to himself at the thought of it. It got old fast and they had been here for almost six months.
He stood up and grabbed his coat. He walked out of the metal office and down the corridor to the control station for the platform, where the commander was. The UNSC officer had kindly allowed him and some of his staff to work off of his station while his crew finished the mining process on the surface, and he felt it only necessary to keep him informed on their progress.
He walked around the corner and onto the control station and was surprised to see it busy with activity, its thirteen station crew working frantically. Maybe it was a routine drill.
"Commander Stevens," Miller said, drawing the officer's attention. "May I ask what is happening?"
The UNSC officer was distracted. "Just reports coming in, nothing to be too concerned about."
Miller nodded and gazed towards a screen on a distant wall. It was a slightly fuzzy picture of some ships exiting slip-space. He walked closer and got a better look; they didn't appear to be UNSC or human. They looked rather odd, with big bulbous sections.
"Commander!" An ensign called out. "Seven contacts entering the system. They're Covenant!"
Cmdr. Stevens spun around and looked at the display. "Red alert, call all compartments to battle stations. Get Admiral Henderson online and inform him our arriving enemies."
Miller looked on in awe at the purple ships. He had never seen the Covenant live before, and expected that he never would, but this sent chills down his spine as he watched them move towards them, some large bumps lighting up on its sides and bottom hot red.
"They're firing, sir! Incoming plasma projectiles: impact in twenty-seconds." A crewmember called out.
"Target and fire all Archer missiles," Cmdr. Stevens ordered. "Order any docked ships away as fast as you can."
"The nearby frigate Turner is reporting contacts entering normal space behind us, sir! Multiple small contacts are leaving the ships' and heading for the surface."
Stevens panned the camera to see three large space craft launch hundreds of tiny specks that headed for the planet. He had never been in a space battle before but had read enough for him to know what was going on.
Planetary invasion.
Miller watched with his mouth open as the white balls of plasma curved effortlessly towards them. He started shaking slightly and stood still as the hot charges got closer until they took up the whole screen.
"Brace for impact!" Stevens yelled.
The ship rocked wildly, and the crewmen around them fell to the floor. Miller grabbed a hold of a nearby console and held on as warning lights and sirens flashed around him. He could feel the plasma eating its way though the decks and the explosive decommissions of the decks that erupted and echoed through the hull. Then the ceiling above them turned white hot.
He felt the heat burn him as the metal melted and sheared away. The heat flashed over him and he felt his skin get instantly vaporized. The pain lasted only a second before his world went black.
1200 hours, September 6, 2552 (Military Calendar)
Aboard UNSC Destroyer Melbourne
Renard Prime System, in orbit above planet Westwind
Lt. Col. Reinker quickly reviewed the images before him as the briefing room aboard the destroyer quickly filled up as officers from the three UNSC ships took their seats and waited impatiently for them to began. He was glad that they had found the location of the third artifact; this was the difference between possibly winning or losing the war. But the situation surrounding the newly discovered location was not ideal.
It was far from it.
ONI Major Senderling stood behind him, organizing some information papers and listening one last time to the Lieutenant who had just pieced together the last puzzle. Reinker had heard the ordeal twice already, and the excitement of finding it quickly faded. Now he was looking forward to a messy mission that would encompass them all.
The room was almost completely full when three Marines walked in. The officers turned and watched as the soldiers, fully geared up with Load Bearing Vests and standard issue MK IAC body armor, walked in and stood off to the side. Many of the crewmen looked nervously at the loaded weapons that were slung from their sides, and a few more seemed to get agitated as the ODST insignias became apparent. The Marines were covered with a fine layer of sand and dust from the hot surface of Westwind.
"Why do we have Marines present at a confidential briefing pertaining to a sensitive matter?" Scorzio asked to no one in particular, staring at the three soldiers. The Marines returned the Captain's hard gaze but remained silent.
"These Marines," Rayford spoke up, his tone harsh. "Are solely responsible for retrieving the second artifact. They are an indispensable part of this mission and are probably our only hope for retrieving the third artifact."
The briefing room quieted to silence as the officers and crewmen looked at the two Captain's after their comments were made. Reinker looked at them as well, and nodded approvingly at Captain Rayford's expressed defense of the Marines. He had heard from Major Senderling the events at Milestone, and viewed them from a different perspective. Before he had thought of them as the jar-head's that did the dirty work on the ground, but these men had shown an unprecedented amount of skill and professionalism when it came to getting the job done; something he failed to see among many of his own staff.
Besides, with the recent events at Reach, they needed every asset and man they could get their hands on. Every Captain in the room knew that assistance from any other UNSC forces would be slim, which left them with what they had right then and there.
Reinker motioned for the Marine guards to close the thick armored doors to the conference room, and then dim the lights. The digital projector came to life and showed them a current tactical map of the system they were in, outlined with information detailing the resources they had.
"We have found the location of the third artifact," Reinker began slowly, switching the view to a star map. "And the situation surrounding the planet are not ideal. As you can see on the display here, the images pieced together by our intelligence analysts show that the planet is Imbari V."
Reinker watched as the expressions changed dramatically on his audience.
"And we are all aware of the situation in the Imbari System," Reinker continued. "Nearly four months ago the planet Imbari V was attacked and invaded by the Covenant. The largest three cites fell within the hour and most surface-side bases were destroyed within the day. Two weeks later Ninth Fleet with the 15th Marine Expeditionary Force arrived in system and were able to reclaim the system, and the Marine force went planet-side to combat the Covenant troops that landed. I'm sure we followed the reports as they Marine force secured the cities and bases, and then the new attack by the Covenant thirty-two days later, landing an unknown amount of ground forces on the planet. And again we all followed the reports as the Twenty-Second Fleet with the 11th Marine Expeditionary Force entered the system and repeated the same feats as the prior fleet.
"But the reports stopped shortly thereafter: August 17 was the last transmission we heard from the Imbari System. To give you a brief overview in case your minds are a little rusty: the space in the system was secured with heavy losses, and the fighting on the planet continued to rage on as the remnants of the 15th MEF and the surviving regiments of the 11th MEF continued to fight an unknown amount of Covenant ground forces. To but it simply, the planet is a devastated battle-field that has been the slaughtering grounds for many of our troops. What does this mean? It means that the artifact is somewhere on this planet and the Covenant must know about it, otherwise the planet would have been glassed.
"We need to get there and find it before the Covenant do," Reinker continued. "I cannot tell what the situation there is now, but we need to get in there regardless of how bad the tactical and strategic circumstances are."
The Captain's and their officers digested the information in silence. Reinker knew that this was not the way any of them wanted to find the last artifact, but it was nonetheless the location of this artifact. And they all knew now the potential cost of losing the last one to the Covenant; they needed it to win the war.
"Okay then," Captain Baker said slowly. "What's our operational plan?"
Reinker nodded to the ONI Major who stepped up and switched the screen back to the first slide. "Let's first organize our resources," the Major said. "Firstly, we have the Melbourne with its surviving fighters, about twelve, and the remains of Tango Company, numbering in at ninety-eight Marines with limited support vehicles.
"The Triton has all of its fighters and the surviving members of Foxtrot Company, which is seventy-five, along with a single armored platoon of tanks. Combined this gives us a total landing force of 173 combat ready Marines, fifteen light reconnaissance vehicles, and four armored tanks."
The Major sighed at the low number of results from the battle in Alpha 1265+90 System. They had taken thirty-two percent casualties among their ground troops and there was nothing those Marines could have done. The Major recalled the tactics guidelines regarding planets; just to secure a sizeable landing zone they needed two platoons, which they had more then enough of. But to launch offensive operations they needed at least one regiment with support. He sighed; hopefully those MEFs were still operational and fighting the Covenant because with these puny numbers they would not get far.
"And the Valiant Knight," the Major said. "No fighters, one platoon of Marines numbering in at thirty-six, no combat support vehicles except for a single drop-ship that's still in testing."
The Major could see the look in their eyes, this was a long shot. He flipped the screen slide and continued, despite the overwhelming feeling in the room of hopelessness.
"Current Operational Plan is to get any needed supplies and leave the system within eight hours. We will then transition to slip-space and reach the Imbari System by September 19. From there we will deploy our ground forces and search for the artifact on Imbari V. With luck we will not have a Covenant fleet to deal with in space, only a ground invasion force that may or may not still be formidable. So expect to provide support for our troops on the surface"
The Major nodded and took a step back. Reinker grabbed his papers and addressed the group. "This is it, gentlemen. We have found the last artifact, and we can all agree that the conditions are not with us. But despite this, we must make this happen."
The group remained silent, but the mood was slowly changing.
Reinker looked around. "We must make this happen for humanity's sake."
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