The last Reaper War

Disclaimer I don't own Halo or Mass Effect both belong to their perspective owners.

To be honest I love Halo but am admittedly not a fan of Mass Effect. I only chose to wright this because I need to give an example of how one sided a battle between these universes would be. However all the outcomes and events in this story are based on the facts of these factions. This is also a reworking and an upgrade from my first attempt at this story.

Location: planet Sanctum UNSC battle cluster.

Date: July 5th 2552

In high orbit above planet Sanctum, deep within the star system Crest lies the Alpha 5 research station. Its purpose was one that could single-handedly change the course of the human covenant war as it was constructed specifically to study and reverse engineer Covenant technology namely shielding, slip space, and most importantly their plasma weapons. The station was of the utmost importance to the war effort and to protect this investment the Navy deployed thirty ships to the planet as well as four orbital defense stations equipped with the super heavy Mark V MAC gun. The Army also kept a sizable force planet side in the scenario of a covenant attack. In charge of military defenses was rear Adm. Eugene Riker with Dr. Marcus Hansen leading the research efforts. Riker was a 54 year old spit shine officer with buzzed gray hair, brown eyes, and surprisingly smooth skin for a man of his age, however that was most likely a result of the extended cryogenic sleep as his physical age was roughly in the early 40s. Dr. Hansen on the other hand was in his late 20s with middle-length brown hair and tan skin.

On board the orbital defense station Overlord, Adm. Riker and Dr. Hansen would meet with head scientists as well as high ranking officers of the Army and Navy to discuss the planet's affairs and progress of their activities. This was a regular event to keep HIGHCOM informed and potently give ONI some propaganda to throw at the public as they have been quite successful in convincing the populace that the war was going well ever sense it began. The meeting room was highly decorated with portraits of human soldiers and ships valiantly engaging the covenant. The room itself was rectangular with a large metal table in the middle with a data pad in front of each seat as well as bottles of water and a pot of coffee. At the end of the room was a gray metal shield with two BR55 battle rifles crossed behind it symbolizing the ranking personal that usually occupied this briefing room. There were a little over a dozen people with military personnel sitting on one side and scientist to the other. Riker open the discussions with. "Well Dr. Hansen how is your progress on the research efforts?"

Dr. Hansen fettled with his data pad and began to speak. "We're making strives. We can expect to begin testing new slip space drives on all our ships within the next 3 to 4 years. Retrofitting Covenant plasma shield technology is a bit trickier of a matter and as of now we don't know how long it might take. But our most promising research has come from the Covenant plasma explosives. We are not yet capable of replicating the plasma torpedoes that have been used against us in the past, however we can modify our archer missiles with plasma warheads which we predict will have the same damage output as the original plasma torpedoes."

That last part caught the officers off guard and had the naval personnel jaw dropped. One ship captain named Nelson Wallace leaned forward and looked directly at Dr. Hansen. spoke with the voice of a young optimistic fellow. "Are you telling us that after 26 years of war with these bastards we can finally fight them on equal terms in space?"

Dr. Hansen simply replied. "There is still more development to be made but we have prototypes in production and once they're ready for the field, than we can start taking the fight to the covenant worlds."

It was no secret that the UNSC excelled in their knowledge of battlefield tactics and ability to innovate. The only problem was the difference in technology. If the UNSC could fight the Covenant with weapons and equipment that could match their own than this war would not have seen the death of billions of human lives.

Immediately everyone in the room began to smile and nod at one another. Many of the military personnel weren't quite sure why this planet was so important at first but after seeing what the scientists had achieved, it was obvious this world must be held and protected at all costs. The meeting went on for several more hours and by the time it ended everyone left feeling high-the spirited seeing as this was the first time in so long anything has went the humans way.

July 12th 2552

High above planet sanctum the UNSC heavy destroyer Ace of Spades was preparing for a test fire of the new plasma missiles. The weapons would be fired at a decommissioned colony ship that was roughly the size of the covenant cruiser. The ship in question was the Bounty of Harvest once used to transfer cargo and supplies between planets but was retired after an engine failure nearly killed 20 of her crew. The ship was deemed redundant and was kept in storage for scrap however its hall and armor were remarkably intact and well preserved thus making it perfect for this test firing. The missiles used for the test were ordinary archers in most ways the only difference being instead of a high explosive or armor piercing warhead there was a superheated plasma charge similar to Covenant grenades which in fact is what the explosive is based off of. Wallace looked around the bridge crew with Adm. Riker and Dr. Hansen present. "Okay is everyone ready for test firing?"

The bridge crew responded with all systems reading green and Capt. Wallace ordered the first shot. "Fire plasma missile one onto the target."

From the bridge of the Ace of Spades the first missile flared through space towards the other ship with an impressive speed. The suspense was almost too much for some for the crew as Wallace was tapping his foot rapidly hoping this was going to mark the beginning of a turning point in the fight against the Covenant. The missile hit the port side of the bounty which let out a bright blue puff. When the vapor clouds cleared there was a large deep hole where the missile had struck with the metal at the edges of the hole bent inward and glowing bright orange. As soon as this became visible the entire bridge crew including Wallace, and Hansen erupted in cheers and roars. The Adm. held out his hands to calm down the crew. "All right people we still have a test to complete"

The next part of the test commenced with six plasma missiles being fired into another undamaged part of the port side of the bounties hull. By the end of the test the entire ship had been melted by a total of 40 missiles which left everyone observing in absolute astonishment and the test concluded with Adm. Riker saying in an upbeat voice. "Now we can finally go on the offensive and drive those bastards out of our homes."

July 21st 2552

Sanctum was a peculiar planet for such an important research station to be conducting its operations. Sanctum itself was earthlike in many features. From orbit it appeared as if the whole planet was one large landmass with hundreds of massive rivers running through it like large bright blue veins with only seven large isolated oceans. There were also dozens of orbital elevators leading up to various space stations with Sanctum's four SMAC stations in a square formation around the planet. Most of the North Eastern Hemisphere consisted of deserts and grassy plains as it had the fewest of these numerous rivers running through it. However the barren terrain made it incredibly suitable for industrial facilities, testing sites, and training areas. The Western Hemisphere was largely a mix of open fields, lush forests, and mountain ranges. These were common terrain features in both the North and South of the West but the South East Hemisphere was primarily dominated by the largest of the oceans with several islands dotting the center of it. One would think that a facility committed to the research of reverse engineered alien technology would be placed in an asteroid field or on a planet more suited to its purpose such as the Damascus Materials testing facility on planet Chi Ceti 4. Its purpose was to research and develop new advanced armor for the UNSC. The planet Chi Ceti 4 was largely uninhabitable as it was basically a highly volcanic rock.

Wallace was in his personal quarters looking over the rearmament reports from the Adm., it had read. As of July 21st 2552 all UNSC warships and orbital defense stations have been rearmed with the new plasma missiles. Our best analysts and A.I.s have been looking over the potential of these new weapons and predict that including all other factors, we can now bring the odds of space battles up from 3 to 1 to an even fight. We have already dispatched a convoy of military and cargo ships to bring these new weapons back to Earth and to ensure that all our naval forces may benefit from this new development. With our current slip space drives it should take 7 days for the ship to reach Earth. Along with the new weapons we also sent a request for reinforcements to ensure this planets further protection and prosperity.

Wallace took a sip of his coffee and looked over the bridge crew assigned to the ship from a data pad. As he was going about his business the ships tactical officer called the captain from outside his quarters. "Capt. Wallace this is Lieut. Lee, we need you on the bridge."

Wallace looked to the bulkhead door as if expecting him to burst through. "What's the situation?"

"We've been picking up slip space whispers within system and Adm. Riker has ordered all forces to prepare for the worst"

Wallace immediately recognizes the potential danger of the situation as he swiftly swallows his remaining coffee and moved through the door to meet up with Lee and head to the bridge. Lee was an Asian man of average height with jet black heir, which was interesting enough as Wallace was just looking over his profile records and discovered that he was of Korean descent, born on Reach, and was awarded several medals for his ability to spot out flaws in covenant ship formations helping improve the odds in space. Moving through the ship was like navigating a beehive as Marines and naval crew were scrambling to report to their immediate positions. By the time Wallace had gotten to the bridge the Adm. was already addressing the fleet. "All UNSC forces in the crest system this is a priority one alert. Our probes have discovered the signatures of what appears to be covenant slip space drives. This is not a drill! I repeat this is not a drill! All naval forces report to rally point Sanctum battle cluster."

While all 30 naval ships were already taking formation within the battle cluster the recall was more directed to the monitoring stations and other various outposts in system. Within minutes the civilian evacuation began. It was quite the situation as Sanctum was the only planet in the Crest system that was actually colonized. However the planet was home to over 800 million people so a full-scale evacuation was going to be tricky and to make matters worse the Covenant could drop in at any time with a force most likely large enough to glass everything in the system. But despite this it was their directive to defend this planet no matter the cost and that is exactly what the UNSC was going to do.

Before long the humans were as prepared as they could be with all their ships and defense stations aimed barrel forward against where the Covenant were predicted to attack from. The ships in orbit were tightly clustered together in a firing line with the orbital guns on the edges. Their ace in the hole were the old decommissioned ships in the orbital scrapyard. Not too long ago a tactic was developed to use old or nonessential ships as shields against the covenant plasma weapons thus giving human ships more time to fire and saving lives. They only had one cradle station for the maintenance and rearmament of ships which was deemed too important to the planets continued defense to use as a shield. The space in front of the battle cluster was littered with old ships placed strategically so the fleet could shoot through them. The ships being used as sacrificial shields were equipped with retro thrusters so that when they were needed they could be moved to protect the still functioning vessels.

Off in the distance away from the planet just where they suspected massive blue rings appeared with solid black in the middle with ships moving through. It was a Covenant force exiting slip space. Just then the Ace of Spades shipboard AI appeared on a projector right next to the tactical display. The AI's name was Joan as in Joan of Arc which was the aesthetic form she took. She wore the platemail armor of a French knight with a medieval longsword hanging off the side. She looked to Wallace and spoke with the accent of a French maiden. "Sir there are 38 enemy vessels just outside our weapons range. 2 super carrier, 3 destroyers, 17 cruisers, and 16 corvettes."

Both fleets had gathered up to each other weapons loaded and ready to fight. For a moment though it would seem as if time had stopped and nobody wanted to make the first move however as history would have it the Covenant moved first. Wallace looked over to the 3-D display of the battle projection. On-screen surrounding the planet were green rings indicating the human's weapons range as the Covenant were slowly creeping towards it. As they were drawing near Riker got on the horn. "All ships the enemy will be entering weapons range in 30 seconds. Keep your guns hot but hold the plasma missiles on standby until my mark."

The seconds counted down slowly but as soon as they were within range all 30 UNSC ships and the four orbital defense stations opened fire. Dozens of bright lights streaked through space as if Zeus were striking his enemies from Olympus. Before these weapons could hit their targets the Covenant returned fire and the rounds crisscrossed with the enemy plasma torpedoes. The first volley crashed into the forward sections of the covenant ships causing some to lose course and start crashing into other ships. The UNSC fleet prepared for another volley fire as the torpedoes drew closer.

On Ace of Spades bridge Capt. Wallace was getting nervous. He knew with or without the new weapons this was going to be a close match so he looked to Joan as if he expected her to know something that would make them feel better. "How long until impact"

Joan crossed her arms. "57 seconds."

The UNSC ships took another volley fire. Wallace could feel the twin heavy guns firing at once as he watched the ordinance find its target. The Covenant plasma torpedoes were just about to strike when the retro rockets on board the decommissioned ships kicked in and for the first time in a long time they moved on their own. The AI working directly under Adm. Riker was controlling them and it had perfectly timed the event. The floating hunks of debris were moved in position in front of the UNSC ships and acting as shields the plasma torpedoes could only explode upon the lifeless already dead ships.

As the Covenant fleet drew closer Riker got back on the horn. "I believe it's time we showed the enemy our new weapon. All ships break formation and attack!"

Without anything else to use as physical shields the best chance for individual human ships to survive was in maneuvering quickly. Some of the bigger ships had spearheaded a charge directly through the center of the enemy naval formation while some of the other ships had arched around this new formation to attempt to hit the Covenant from the flanks. There were a total of 17 Covenant ships remaining and they lost their super carriers. However as in all battles fought with them they stayed on course and were willing to fight to the death.

Wallace decided to use his ship to flank the enemy from the top. The UNSC and Covenant fleets seem to collide like two armies of medieval cavalry. Some ships had crashed into each other destroying both in the process while most flew past firing everything they had. Missiles and plasma torpedoes crisscrossed as the situation became less of two firing lines and one massive of ships and explosions. A human cruiser crashed directly into a Covenant destroyer and detonated all of its nuclear ordinance obliterating both ships. The Ace of Spades was directly over an enemy cruiser occupying itself with taking shots at another ship. Wallace knew this was the time to strike.

"Joan, get me a firing solution on the center of that ship."

Joan had already ran the calculations twice. "Already done sir."

He then looked over to warrant officer Greenway on the weapons station. "Fire missile pods A through D"

"Right away sir." Greenway responded.

40 missiles rained down on the Covenant cruiser with impressive speed and force. The first few missiles exploded just off the armor, superheated plasma splashed against its shields which quickly turned bright silver and dissipated entirely. The next two dozen missiles hit the top of the center of the ship melting away much of its interior. "Fire pods E and F!" Wallace barked.

Another two dozen missiles poured into the already crippled ship. The armor had been so decimated by the new weapons the enemy ship had split in half along where they struck. Small explosions rippled throughout the cruiser's severed front half as the rear end was releasing all of its coolant and erupted in a massive blue and white explosion.

As Capt. Wallace and the Ace of Spades dived in to join the larger battle it soon became apparent that the Covenant were outmatched in this fight. It seemed that the other ships had been much less restrictive with their usage of the plasma missiles as most of the wreckage could barely be identified as Covenant ships. They were just massive conglomerates of the melted metal.

The Ace of Spades had flown past Covenant ships that were so mutilated they appeared as if they had been boiled in a star. Wallace's ship had reached the edge of the debris field only to find 4 Covenant ships face to face with a fleet of over 20 UNSC ships. The exchange of missile and plasma continued as before but the overwhelming firepower and number of ships was simply too much and the last enclave on Covenant ships soon met the same fate as the rest of their fleet.

The whole crew was silent for a moment with the only noise coming from the combat alarm until once again Admiral Riker came on to address the fleet. There was pride and strength in his voice. "Today is only the first in many victories. We have shown the Covenant humanities resolves and this is where the war turns in our favor. All ships return to Sanctum for repairs and refit. Good work everyone, Riker out. "

The reality of the situation had just hit the crew like a train that victory was theirs and the Covenant were defeated. Everyone on the bridge had begun the roar and cheer in celebration. Wallace looked over to Joan with a calm, relaxed expression and a smile on his face. "Plot a course home"