Chapter 4

Saratoga 1730 Military Time, Mars Orbit

Master Chief was in the armoury when the Saratoga had suddenly executed the radical evasive manoeuvre. He had quickly taken hold of a railing before the movement subsided. Quickly, he grabbed a Battle Rifle and a shotgun with plenty of ammo, four grenades and a special little package before he ran out to the bridge.

"Master Chief and the 32nd Platoon report to Hangar Bay 4 immediately. Repeat, Master Chief and the 32nd Platoon report to Hangar Bay 4 immediately," the speaker announced and the Chief quickly turned to the hangar for departure. He was met by a platoon of marines standing to attention, loading up onto the two Pelicans that had been taken from the Mars Shipyards. With no available escort, the only defence they had was the cover fire the Saratoga was to provide. Master Chief hopped onto a Pelican before they promptly blasted off towards a Covenant destroyer.

On the bridge of the Saratoga, the lieutenant was on the floor, screaming in pain as his blood seeped onto the metallic floor. In his foot was a Magnum pistol slug, which had happily imbedded itself in the lieutenant's flesh.

"Get a medic! On the double! 2nd Lieutenant Jovial take over position. Status report?" Welsh yelled before the holographic image of Cortana flickered over the projector.

"Luckily, we dodged most of the shots, thanks to my last second manoeuvre. We only sustained a few hits on the starboard but no hull breaches. All, engines are in cool down status and our SMACs are now fully charged for firing. I've sent the order for the Chief to leave the ship and he's currently heading towards this destroyer." A small square picked out a small ship in the midst of hundreds of ships.

"We should bring their total attention to us by fleeing to these co-ordinates and letting the Chief slip through. However, in order to let the Chief and the Pelicans through, we'll need to make the destroyer lower its shields. I suggest a low velocity SMAC round will be able to knock the shields out," Cortana suggested.

"I'll see what I can do," said Welsh before she asked, "Raven, give me a slow 20 thrust power to the main engines and run a quick check of the ship. Cortana, familiarize yourself with the new Operating System that Raven's got. Remember, that we're only just out of range of their turrets and we'll be right in their range in a few minutes."

Un-named Covenant Destroyer 1745 Military Time, Mars Orbit

Cheffington quickly dove to his right behind a crate, narrowly dodging an overcharged pistol. They had been slowly working their way towards the bridge and were encountering stiff resistance. He had only thirteen marines left and they were now facing a squad of Elites bent on their death.

"Fire in the hole!" he yelled before he threw a plasma grenade at the aliens. The explosive went off, blasting an Elite into smithereens. There was a growl of anger and an Elite Major charged with his Energy Sword ignited. Peeking around the crate he let loose a wave of plasma from his two plasma rifles which quickly knocked out its shields, but by now, it was within range for the Elite to lunge and impale Cheffington. It kicked off its right foot, ready to plunge the sword into Cheffington until a resounding crack of a Magnum pistol filled the room.

"Not that's how you do it!" a boisterous voice called and Sergeant Avery Johnson walked in, blasting away with his dual pistols. Behind him was a squad of ODST s, firing round after round from their Battle Rifles. The Elite Major crumpled to the floor, a single slug from Johnson's Magnum through its skull. Cheffington quickly leapt from behind the crate and let loose a volley of plasma into the squad of Elites who were slowly retreating behind the corner. Johnson simply pulled the pin on a grenade and skilfully threw the explosive around the corner. A loud explosion rocked the corridor as the bodies of the Elites were reduced to a pile of shredded pile of meat.

"Move it pansies! You're a marine! Now form up!" Johnson yelled at the surviving marines who quickly limped over.

"You little school girls are lucky that Miranda decided to help you guys out! Now get a weapon from the box over there!"

Cheffington gratefully took a shotgun and Battle Rifle with plenty of ammo and two grenades before the small group of humans cautiously advanced onto the bridge.

Gold-312 Pelican 1800 Military Time, Mars Orbit

"We're about fifteen klicks from the frigate. Thrusters at 10. Our heat signature is invisible to their scanners unless they conduct a thorough progressive scan. ETA about thirty minutes. Then we'll wait until the Saratoga breaks the shields and slip through."

Master Chief nodded silently before a Covenant destroyer to his right exploded as a SMAC round ripped through its shields and bulkhead.

"We're nearing the frigate, Chief. No increased levels of activity so far so for the moment, we're safe. Now we'll wait until the Saratoga breaches its shields and then we'll slip through. I'm putting our thrusters on stand by to make sure we're not noticed."

The Chief nodded silently. It was strange not having Cortana around he thought, missing the small informative voice usually inside his head. The marines around him were rather nervous, occasionally shuffling around and the Pelican beside them stopped as well. Suddenly, a low velocity SMAC round impacted against the frigate, completely knocking out its shields.

"Here we go!" the pilot yelled before kick starting the engine and flying towards the nearest hangar. A couple of pulse lasers attempted to fire at the two D77-TC Pelicans but they were already too close and the two Pelicans fired their 102mm rocket pods and 70mm chain guns at the small group of Covenant inside the hangar. They lowered themselves over the floor and the marines quickly jumped out of the rear end of the ships firing their weapons. The Covenant were quickly mopped up, with no human casualties.

"Sergeant Harrington! You take command of Gold team and protect the Pelicans. I'll take command of Red team and head for the bridge!"
"Yes sir!"

Red team headed up the hallways of the ship before they encountered a pair of Hunters. Grabbing the new M20 SSM Rocket Launcher from a marine the Chief let loose two SPANKr rockets directly at the aliens. Surprised, the Hunters were blown back a few feet by the powerful blast of the HE rockets, lightly wounded. Dropping the weapon on the ground, the Master Chief used his enhanced augmentations to quickly slide under one of the Hunters and pull out his M90 Shotgun and fire two rounds into the groin of the beast. Not missing a beat, the Chief swivelled behind the other Hunter and fired a round into its unprotected back. Both of the aliens crumpled to the floor, before firing a single shot from their fuel rods. The Master Chief simply reloaded his shotgun before moving on.

Heuich City, 1830 Military Time, Minister Inner Colony

The Athlon destroyer was one of the few frigates spared from being given the order of the defence of Earth and instead was stationed at Minister, one of the few colonies unknown to the Covenant. The Athlon was the only of ship of the Shakespeare class for the construction of the Athlon was very expensive and unpractical. The frigate featured a phenomenal cool down rate for its two MAC cannons, with each cannon being able to fire five rounds per minute and the engine able to go up to 300 while maintaining stability.

"Sir! Detecting slip space ruptures at point two two one alpha."

"Change our military status to stand by and alert all crew members. Charge both MAC cannons and attempt to communicate if the ship is of UNSC origin," the captain ordered. Ominously, the glowing purple bow of a Covenant flag ship began to emerge from slip space. Swearing the captain quickly began to bark out orders.

"Target both MAC cannons at the front of the ship and send distress signals to nearby ships. Load Archer missile pods from A4 to B2 and ready all Longswords onboard!"

"Both MACs ready for firing and distress signals sent! Missile pods ready!"

"Fire both MAC cannons on my mark and exactly ten seconds later fire all Archer missile pods!"

"Affirmative!"

"Mark!" The Athlon shuddered violently as the two super heated projectiles were launched from the ship, directly towards the Covenant flag ship. Fortunately, after a slip space jump, Covenant ships are unshielded and the two projectiles slammed against the unshielded ship ripping apart a chunk of the flag ship. Moments later, the volley of missiles began to assault the wounded ship, causing small fractures over its starboard side. Swiftly, more Covenant ships began to emerge from slip space. Six more UNSC frigates began to join the fray attacking the flag ship with their MAC cannons. The UNSC ships inflicted heavy damage upon the Covenant lead ship before it raised its shields. The Athlon quickly began to target the other Covenant ships entering the system destroying 2 CPV-class destroyers. Eight Covenant behemoths were present in the system, fighting off a valiant dozen of frigates who were quickly firing salvos of Archer pod missiles and MAC ordnances. The flag ship fired its mysterious beam of plasma or light and destroyed the UNSC frigate, Waterloo, which exploded into a magnificent fire ball as its fusion reactor exploded.

"Get a squadron of Lonswords ready armed with Shiva-nuclear tipped missiles. Target our MAC guns at the nearest Covenant battle cruiser and order the Moresby to coincide with our attack."

"Acknowledged captain."

"On my mark……Mark!"

Again, the Athlon was thrown back by the recoil of its cannons, as the two projectiles sped across space, a volley of Archer missile pods trailing after it. The resulting explosion blew the cruiser's shields before the Moresby's attack impacted against the reactor of the ship. Small bursts of plasma began to appear on the clandestine surface of the craft, the ship being slowly ripped apart. Then, with one last groan, the cruiser utterly exploded with a tremendous bang, plasma flying.

"Detecting heat rises on the flag ship's beam weapon. It's aiming right at us!"

"Charge up engines to 400! Divert MAC cooling systems to the engines! Activate emergency cooling systems! Bring us to our starboard, angled at 45 degrees. Ready emergency recoil dampeners and emergency starboard blast manoeuvre assisters and assign the crew to brace themselves,"

"Done, sir!"

"On my mark, aim all main and auxiliary thrusters and starboard blast assisters at starboard at full power!"

"Yes sir!"

The ominous turret of the flag ship began to glow with an eye blinding glow before it unleashed a lance of light and heat straight towards the Athlon.

"Mark!" the captain yelled for all he was worth. With a bang, the entire crew was violently flung sideways as the starboard blast manoeuvre assisters blew. The Covenant flag ship's beam of plasma scraped past, barely scratching the titanium surface of the Athlon.

"Status report?" the captain yelled over the din of the screaming warning sirens.

"Minor hull breaches on levels H2 and H3 and internal fires. Vacuuming now."

"Good, bring our engines to normal status and request all remaining ships to concentrate their fire on that flag ship!"

"Sending requests…all ships acknowledge and ready for orders! Shiva armed Longswords ready for firing!" the communications officer yelled.

"Understood Lieutenant. Order a salvo of MACs at the bridge of the flag ship and then a salvo of Archer missiles before letting the Longswords let loose their nuclear payload."

"Understood."

The numerous MAC cannons of the frigates let a volley of their super heated ordnances which imploded on the shimmering shield of the flag ship which shimmered before being overloaded and wiped out. Thousands of Archer missiles pods followed, many pulse lasers cutting them down but the missiles still got through, increasing the damage on the flag ship. Screaming across the starry sky, the four Longswords dropped the Shiva-nuclear tipped missiles from their mounted rails before the missiles thrusters kicked in, a dozen of missiles flying towards the limping flag ship. A symphony of colossal explosions erupted on the surface of the ship, gigantic ruptures appearing on the craft. The integrity of the framework of the ship had been terribly weakened, and continuous fires of plasma raged across the surface.

"MACs ready for firing, sir!"

"On my mark….."

"Sir! Hundreds of slip space ruptures converging on our position!"

"Fire the damn MAC now!"

The lights dimmed and the Athlon flew back as the cannon fired. It whistled across space, before imploding on the hull of the craft. The super structure of the flag ship began to wrench out of shape, the behemoth being slowly bent out of shape by the velocity of the impact. Eventually, it buckled and blew up in an enormous explosion, sending super heated debris flying.

"Hundreds of boarding craft heading right toward us!"

"Ready the crew to repel boarders.."

"Done. Anything else?"

"Pray Lieutenant, pray."

Arggghhhh! Haven't updated in so long! Really sorry about that….Thanks to all my reviewers and especially to ZealousReformer, Derek and his Yami and outlawarcher!