A/N: Greetings and salutations everyone, and welcome to the long awaited (hopefully) return of Bellum Mundorum. It's been too damn long since I posted a chapter so I decided a re-write was needed due to how cringe inducing it felt to read my own story that was written when I was 16. I mean it's supposed to be a gritty war story, not some testosterone filled half-wits faffing about while hell freezes over. I don't' own Halo or Star Wars as much as I wish so now ladies and gentlemen, on with the show.
UNSCDF Planetary Headquarters
Costa Verde, Tempest
November 12th, 2596
11:22 GST
Major General (MG) Wladyslaw J. Sobieski, 24th Armored Division "Shining Armor", UNSC Army
General Wladyslaw Sobieski was not someone who showed outward signs of fear or stress, but that was neither here nor there.
He stood as the solitary figure in his private office. Unmoving and focused.
A deep frown marred his face, which was usually one of neutrality thanks to his Slavic background.
A large man standing at six feet four inches with a large scar running from his left eyebrow to the right side of his mouth.
Right now, he felt a whole myriad of emotions. Fear. Excitement. Anger. And a whole plethora of other things he couldn't describe.
His knuckles were white as he clenched on to his empty coffee mug while his piercing blue eyes narrowed while staring at the contents of the datapad.
He wiped his brow as he felt sweat forming in large quantities and heard his own heartbeat violently overwhelming his hearing.
"God Almighty."
"You called General?" An overly enthusiastic voice quipped.
The General turned towards a holotable and saw the form of Frankie, a 7th generation "Smart AI" in the form of an adolescent hoodlum. Frankie was making a strange facial expression that one might perceive as a smile, but Sobieski knew it was clearly a jeer with the intention of getting a reaction.
Smug little bastard. He thought to himself before taking a deep breath in and releasing it. Taking a few precious seconds to clear his mind of any unwanted thoughts and negativity, he closed his eyes.
"Cut the bullshit Frankie, you know EXACTLY why I called for you." The General responded sternly, not amused that the AI was acting like a child.
Frankie's face immediately fell and his hologram looked Sobieski right in the eyes.
"It's worse than it says sir. High speed sensor buoys went ballistic when a large group of metallic objects moving faster than light triggered them" He stated grimly while a large array of displays popped up around him.
General Sobieski scanned through each of the sensor data logs, getting more anxious with every swipe until he came to a recent log with a file attached containing a picture and a three-dimensional model of what the assumed objects were. He opened the file and what he saw made his eyes widen and hairs stand up on the back of his neck. He quickly shook himself out of the trancelike state and composed himself.
"Frankie, enhance that image I want to know EXACTLY what the fuck that is." He ordered as he enlarged the display and pointed at the blurry image.
It's really happening isn't it, those fucking bastards He thought to himself while watching as Frankie enhanced the image as much as possible. He prayed that he was wrong about the feeling he had in his gut.
The result left him with the dread of having to confirm his fears as to what the objects were.
A Republic warship.
The three-dimensional imaging technology was derived from reverse engineered Forerunner sensor technology and it allowed the sensor to map out a model of sorts in the general space that it tracks.
The sensor wasn't able to determine what class of warship but the arrow shaped hull was enough to determine that it was one of many Republic ship classes.
The logs detailed that the fleet composition was between two-hundred and two hundred and fifty ships, with a small margin of error.
Sobieski put his mug down and leaned on the holotable, a determined yet stressed look on his face as high huffed in frustration at the grim news he just received.
He turned his head and glared at the image of the Republic ship before turning his head back to the holotable. He keyed in a password on a keypad and brought up a rotating three-dimensional model of Tempest and its moon; Tigris. The model zoomed in further on a grouping of space stations and a small fleet of UNSC warships holding position seven hundred kilometers away from the stations. One of the stations in particular was of interest to him.
"Frankie, what's the status of that Orbital Defense Platform?" He asked without looking away from the model of the station in question.
"Costa Verde station is currently operational but it primary weapon system is not. Engineers have slated the weapon will be properly aligned, tuned and calibrated within four days." Responded Frankie in a slightly robotic manner while opening and closing various different displays around himself.
"Four days? Jesus Christ, how long before the Republic fleet gets here?" Asks a frustrated General Sobieski as clenched his jaw and hands, and felt that he wasn't going to like the news.
General Sobieski started to review troop compositions and Tempests available assets while trying to see if any UNSC forces are available to provide reinforcements considering how massive the enemy fleet is. He wiped even more sweat of his brow and noticed that his body temperature was up significantly while coming to the conclusion that all local assets under his command are clearly outnumbered.
He would have to set up defensive positions around every major city on the planet and account for large amounts of civilian traffic as they prepared to evacuate. The Maria Space Elevator and the Costa Verde Space Port would be major targets and will require a lot of dedicated manpower to police and protect them.
"Sir! You're not going to like this." A panicked Frankie appeared and addressed the General.
"Give me a SITREP Frankie." Ordered General Sobieski after seeing the usually laid-back AI in such a state.
"I spoke with the AI on-board the Albion Sensor Control Station. We have eight hours before contact Sir." Said Frankie with concern and fear evident in his voice.
General Sobieski's blood ran cold at that. He felt himself go numb for a second as he processed the information he just took in. He felt adrenaline rush through his veins and that gave him a stronger determination to snap out of his shock and take control of the situation.
"Frankie, initiate Heaven's Fall Protocol. Mobilize all troops and send out a mandatory evacuation order to the civilian population." He ordered before putting the holotable into combat mode.
Klaxons started blaring to herald the arrival of conflict at their doorstep.
"Sir' Captain DeRosa is on the horn. Says it's urgent." Said Frankie as he patched the Captain through to General Sobieski.
A display appeared showing a fairly young man with a handsome face and buzzed black hair.
"Pardon the interruption sir, I just received an urgent communique from Admiral Papadakos."
Bridge, UNSC Apocalypse Now
Locked orbit above Costa Verde, Tempest
November 12th, 2596
11:45 GST
Captain (CAPT) Leonardo DeRosa, Battlegroup Apocalypse Now, 7th Fleet, UNSC Navy
"[Battlegroup Fenrir will be arriving in eight hours due to threat of Republic invasion, stand by for further messages]." DeRosa read the message to General Sobieski and saw the Generals face regain some of its color, but the determined yet grim look remained. They did call him the Reaper for a reason.
"That's probably the best news I've heard all day. This day has been nothing but one fuck up after the other with regards to how prepared we are to face these pricks. We have three brigades of Army, one brigade of Marines and two battalions of Airborne troops. Estimated Republic troop compositions sit anywhere from three to 6 times that number." Stated the General only for the last bit of information to sour his face again.
The situation was not in the UNSC's favor at all. The number of troops divided up between all major cities and military installations would stretch troops thin. Evacuating civilians would just make it worse.
"I'll send my Marines down sir. You're going to need them a hell of a lot more than I do down there. I'll contact Colonel Bennings on that." Said DeRosa.
He felt slight fear well up inside him as he thought about the current situation. His battlegroup numbered eleven ships in total, nowhere near enough to make any difference against over two hundred ships. He felt his heart race as he thought about the possibility of dying here and not being able to see the faces of his wife and newborn son again. He just couldn't accept it. He wouldn't accept it.
Barracks, Fort Kamino
Costa Verde, Tempest
November 12th, 2596
12:12 GST
Corporal Harrison "Hari-Chan" Yoshida, Bravo Company, 2nd Battalion, 555th Army Rangers "Five Finger Death Punch", UNSC Army
"Alright you animals get your asses moving double time! Mommy ain't here to wipe your ass!" Bellowed Staff Sergeant Henry Ortiz as his imposing form scanned every last soldier gearing up under his command.
"The Reaper has spoken and we are to be his messengers of death. Some unlucky souls have wandered into his domain and we are to punish them for their transgressions! Now how will we go about doing that!?" He bellowed even louder once all of Bravo assembled.
"Kill!"
"I can't hear you!"
"Kill!"
"Come on you wallflowers! Is that supposed to scare me!?"
"Kill! Kill! Kill!"
"Now that's what I'm talking about! All you need is kill! He braked out with his deep voice like thunder, making the very ground shake in fear.
He handed over the reins to Lieutenant Nigel Hall and Corporal Yoshida watched as the baby-faced CO of Bravo Company took his place in front of the men and women under his command. He panned his vision across his troops, no emotion betraying his thoughts.
"Listen up! Reaper is expecting an imminent Republic invasion of Tempest. Major Fareed is send Alpha, Bravo and Echo companies to three different location to set up welcome gifts should any Barbie Dolls attempt to move anywhere but up their own asses when they get here. The Merdian Fields north of the city are the only open areas within the forests that the Republic could land troops. Stated Lt. Hall matter-of-factly as a holodisplay appeared, showing the sites where the Republic forces are most likely to land. He pointed out where Bravo was going to set up their 'gift'.
"Any questions?" He asked.
"Sir" Yoshida raised his hand.
"Go ahead Yoshida."
"What exactly are we going to be setting up at the designated points?" Asked Yoshida quzically as he tried to figure out what they could possibly want them to do that the Air Force wouldn't be able to do.
"That's need to know Corporal. Hell I don't even know what the hell they're giving us in the goody bags." Responded Hall with frustration in his voice before putting on his helmet.
The other Bravo soldiers put their helmets on and ran system checks to make sure that features like cloaking worked or that their VISR sytem wasn't glitched.
"Alright Bravo! Let's go raise some hell! Form up on me!" Yelled Ortiz as Bravo moved in behind him.
I've got a bad feeling about this Thought Yoshida as he fell in with the rest of Bravo while running a scan on the integrity of his M85K.
A/N: And there you have a re-write of chapter 1. Hope you like it and remember to leave a review, no matter how harsh, they always help. Have yourselves a wonderful day/night or whatever.