A Change of Fate (SG1-Halo crossover)

[Vianca]

“Commissions in your military. If we are to give you our technology, you will need our expertise to use it effectively. And we must retain the Odyssey for if we ever discover a way home,” the General replied.

This might be a bit wrongly worded.
Couldn´t he have asked for a Letter of Maquis?
That together with a UNSC crew and perhaps a couple of Sabers, they could have keept their flexibility.
Two colony ships, two cradles and a super-MAC orbital station could give them a ship that they might want to take back.
Trading the tech for tech or equiptment, would have been a must.

With a commission you get orders, one of which could be to hand over all their tech.
Never trade away your freedom of movement to a possibly (future) hostile force, it would tie you down to much.
UNSC Navy and Tau´ri Fleet.

Anyway, Carter better start with her ship-upgrades while she can.
1: Replicator
2: Hull Refit
3: All the other stuff.

[Skywalker_T-65]

I might have worded it wrong yes. This was when I was fighting back writers block remember? I tend to go back through older chapters when I get the chance.

[Vianca]

Thought it might have been something like that.
Suggest that they (and you) take a look at both new-BSG and Starcraft-II, I´m talking about the warships here.
Just think of the Odyssey as a back-ridge of a possibly bigger ship.

Wonder if they can salvage some ship-parts for such a use.

[Skywalker_T-65]

0915 Hours, August 25, 2552 (Military Calendar) /
Epsilon Eridani System, Reach UNSC Military Complex, planet Reach, Omega Wing—Section Three secure facility

Inside the sanctity of her office, Dr. Catherine Halsey sat and looked over the report the ONI Committee had compiled about the Battle of Sigma Octanus. It was highly interesting to put it mildly, especially the ‘displaced’ ship that had appeared right before the Covenant. The USS Odyssey a ship with a crew who claimed to be from both the past, and a different reality. That alone was enough to get the interest of the scientist in Halsey, but what truly interested her was the technology they possessed.

Shield generators that were more compact, yet far, far more powerful than a similar sized Covenant device. Power generators that put even the ODP Fusion Generators to shame. Not one, but two matter transportation devices. And the weapons…compact beam weapons that could carve clean through Covenant shields, and railguns that, while small, could accelerate a shell far faster than a UNSC variant. And of course, the nukes that made the Shiva look like a firecracker.

All of this left Dr. Halsey very interested in this ship and her crew. They had been tight-lipped about their technology, saying that they would release it to the UNSC once they had made sure it couldn’t be misused (contrary to the first meeting...though Halsey had no way of knowing it was due to upgrading the Goa'uld tech...to a certain extent). And then there was the fact that not even the best cyber warfare specialists in ONI could breach the Odyssey's firewalls. It was a mystery, and Halsey loved mysteries.

But she was distracted as the holo-crystals above her desk warmed up to display the avatar of her newest AI, Cortana. Taking the form of a slender young woman, Cortana sat cross-legged on Halsey’s desk. The AI looked up at the Doctor with electric blue eyes, data streaming through them.

“Good morning Dr. Halsey,” Cortana said ‘standing up’ on the desk, “I read the Committee’s report…”

“Which was classified Eyes-Only,” Halsey pointed out.

Cortana gave a fake ‘thoughtful’ look, “Oh, I must have missed that part.”

With that said, she ‘jumped’ off the desk, and started to walk around Halsey. Cortana was the single most advanced AI in the UNSC, and it showed in her abilities. The main problem was she often grew bored, and a bored Smart AI created havoc in ONI’s databanks. Part of Halsey was tempted to set Cortana loose on the Odyssey’s firewalls, but she didn’t want to alienate the crew of that ship.

Shaking those thoughts, Halsey turned to her pacing AI, “I would assume you have read the classified information from Sigma Octanus IV?”

“I may have seen that somewhere,” Cortana deadpanned.

“Your analysis?”

“The Committee has no idea what they found. This Dr. Jackson from the mystery ship though, seems to have a theory that interests me,” Cortana replied, the data streaming across her body flashing a deeper blue as she devoted more thought to that statement.

“Oh?” Halsey asked, curious what Cortana was getting at.

Stopping her pacing, Cortana crossed her arms over her chest, “Yes, I know what you are thinking Dr. But Dr. Jackson, if his story is to be believed anyway, has vast experience with numerous alien dialects. And he believes that is what this stone is, writing made by an as yet undiscovered race.”

Halsey nodded, “Go on.”

“According to Dr. Jackson, it resembles Aztec hieroglyphs, though there is significant enough variation that even dedicated translation programs wouldn’t be able to pick it out. He compared it to the difference between Latin and the ‘Ancient’ language he is familiar with,” Cortana said, rattling off the report that Daniel had submitted, “He has yet to translate it completely, but he says he is making progress. I would personally suggest giving him more resources, as his theory makes sense.”

“You continue to impress me Cortana. I was going to suggest that very thing to the Committee later today,” Halsey said with a small smile, “Now, the final phase of Project MJOLNIR has been approved.”

Cortana looked up, a shocked look on her face, “They approved it?”

Halsey nodded again, “Yes, all that remains is incorporating this ‘Goa’uld’ shield technology into the armor. Coupled with the Covenant shield technology already involved, it increases the strength exponentially.”

Nodding slightly, Cortana ‘stood’ again and walked over to a framed picture on the wall. Standing in it was a handsome man, in a UNSC dress uniform having a medal pinned to his chest.

“I want him to be my Spartan,” Cortana said softly.

Halsey frowned, and was ready to argue with Cortana. But she held her tongue. They had more important things to do, than argue about John. And really, who better to protect Cortana than the luckiest Spartan alive?

Setting aside her uneasiness, Halsey sat back down at her desk, “Now, which ship do you propose for this mission?”

An eager look dawned on Cortana’s face. Like most Smart AI’s, she liked to show off, and Halsey had just given her the option. So Cortana jumped back up on the desk, and projected a model of a bulky ship.

Halsey recognized it right away. It was a Halcyon class UNSC Cruiser.

“The Pillar of Autumn,” Cortana said.

Halsey let a small frown on her face. There were very, very few modern UNSC cruisers, the Marathon class, left. Most were being pulled back to defend the Inner Colonies. However, the Autumn was certainly not one of these powerful ships. It could best be described as an obsolete junk-heap.

“The Pillar of Autumn is forty-three years old,” Cortana started to explain, “Halcyon-class ships were the smallest vessel ever to receive the cruiser designation. It is approximately one-third the tonnage of the Marathon-class cruiser currently in service.”

“Halcyon-class ships were pulled from long-term storage—they were designated to be scrapped, in fact. The Autumn was refit in 2550, to serve in the current conflict near Zeta Doradus. Their Mark Two fusion engines supply a tenth of the power of modern reactors. Their armor is light by current standards. Weapon refits have upgraded their offensive capabilities with a single Magnetic Acceleration Cannon and six Archer missile pods.”

“The only real noteworthy feature is the frame,” Cortana continued to rattle off facts about the old ship, “The ship is riddled with honeycombs, and cross-bracing. This makes the Halcyon-class legendary in durability. There are reports of battles against the Covenant where they lose up to 90% of their armor and remain functional. And with the shields coming into production based on the Odyssey’s designs, this ship will be nearly indestructible.”

“Service record?” Halsey asked, deliberately ignoring the mention of the shields, and how Cortana knew what even Halsey didn’t (SG-1 giving over the designs).

“Very substandard,” Cortana replied, “Slow and ineffective in combat, they are a joke in the fleet.”

“Perfect,” Halsey said, “I concur with your selection. Refit will begin at once, though she’ll need a crew.”

“Who do you recommend Dr.?” Cortana asked.

Halsey sent Cortana a set of files, which the AI skimmed over in less than a second. A frown grew on her otherwise pretty face.

“He used no AI at Sigma Octanus?” Cortana asked, a bit of hesitation entering her question.

“That was for technical reasons, he has no problems with working with computers. And he has the most important qualification for the job…the man can keep a secret,” Halsey pointed out, “And the Autumn is just the distraction…the main push in Operation: RED FLAG will be the Odyssey…”



End of Part 1

(and yes I know a lot of that was from Fall of Reach...that shouldn't happen often, but sometimes it is needed to move things along)

[InsaneTD]

I liked the novel better then the Game. For the story anyway.

[Themightytom]

Wowwww putting Goa'uld personal shields on a Spartan is gonna be awesome, the sodan cloak might be interesting too.

[astrospace2020]

very good story, so Far lets see The UNSC warships with shields and energy weapons to start pushing back the covenant. Can't hardly wait for the next chapter

[Skywalker_T-65]

Sorry I haven't updated in so long. I haven't been able to write much of anything on the fanfic front lately.

[astrospace2020]

Sorry I haven't updated in so long. I haven't been able to write much of anything on the fanfic front lately.

ok , but i hope your muse returns so that you can continue this amazing story

[Skywalker_T-65]

I finally managed to work something up. Hopefully it doesn't take this long between updates from now on.

************
Part 2: Operation: RED FLAG
************


0800 Hours, August 27, 2552 (Military Calendar)/

Epsilon Eridani System, FLEETCOM Military Complex, planet Reach


Colonel Samantha Carter walked into the large meeting room at the UNSC’s main base on Reach. It had been decided that she would be the Odyssey’s representative at the meeting, as she could best explain any technical details. But it meant that she wasn’t quite expecting the sight before her. Standing in the meeting room was a large group of men and women. But that wasn’t the odd thing…what was odd was the fact that all of them made even Teal’c look average.

Even the shortest member of this group was taller than even the tallest man Sam had ever seen. And their muscle tone made Teal’c’s look like tissue paper. All in all, these ‘people’ were a very intimidating presence. Sam would have been worried if her UNSC counterpart, Catherine Halsey, hadn’t whispered in her ear.

“These are my Spartan’s Colonel,” the other woman said, “Our greatest weapon, and our last hope. They are the ones that this mission hinges on.”

After saying that, Halsey walked past Sam towards the podium set up at the center of the stage. Sam took a seat next to the podium, beside Captain Keyes. The two soldiers turned to look out at the Spartans while Halsey began the briefing.

“Assembled here are all surviving Spartans save Red and Gray teams,” Halsey began, “Admiral Stanforth has asked me to brief you on the upcoming mission. Due to its complexity you are to disregard your normal protocol and ask any questions that are needed. Now…our first order of business: the Covenant.”

After Halsey finished saying that a holographic representation of Covenant ships and races appeared on either side of her. Sam noticed the Spartans tense ever so slightly…she would have done the same if a holographic Replicator or Goa’uld symbiote had been displayed. Years of fighting did that to someone. But having already read up on Halsey’s speech, Sam tuned it out and mentally went over her own contribution to the meeting.

She only actually gave her attention when Halsey reached the part about the Prophets. Sam had found that part of the Covenant hierarchy interesting, as it reminded her of what they knew of the Wraith. The Prophets functioned in much the same role as the Queens, leading the ‘lesser’ races/castes and generally acting superior to the others.

The only difference here seemed to be that the Prophets were postulated as their own distinct race. Which brought to mind the Goa’uld, especially with the appearances of the Prophets being religious figures as much as they were leaders. All in all, Sam couldn’t get the comparisons out of her head, and it was something to look at more closely for sure. But her attention was drawn to Halsey again, as she went into detail on the mission itself.

“Now, the original plan was to engage the Covenant and disable one of their ships, whereupon you all would capture the ship and after making sufficient repairs, use it to infiltrate the Covenant capital,” Halsey said, wiping her glasses before she continued, “However, thanks to our new friends on the Odyssey we were able to capture a pair of Covenant ships at Sigma Octanus. One of them, a frigate that the Covenant called Eternal Faith is being retrofitted for this mission as we speak. I will let Colonel Carter of the Odyssey explain that.”

Halsey stepped away from the podium, motioning Sam forward. The blonde Colonel smoothed out wrinkles on her blue Air Force uniform, and walked up to the podium. She knew her outfit was getting curious looks, but with it being several centuries out of date…that was to be expected. Clearing her throat, Sam began her part of the briefing.

“I am Colonel Samantha Carter of the United States Air Force,” Sam began, and immediately a hand went up in the crowd. Sam wasn’t as familiar with the other services insignia, especially after 500 years of evolution…but she had done some brushing up, “Yes Master Chief?”

The massive man asked a question, his voice surprisingly soft considering his size, “You said you are a member of the United States military…that isn’t possible. The United States was dissolved centuries ago.”

Sam smiled slightly…evidently they hadn’t been privy to what had happened, “That is true yes. However, I am from an alternate timeline. Where Earth has been space fairing since the early 21st century. I myself am from 2007, and am only here through a malfunction in my ship. The relevant information is being sent to your barracks.”

The Master Chief looked dubious at that answer, but didn’t ask another question. Sam took that as her cue to continue, “The Eternal Faith is being retrofit with the technology from the Odyssey as we speak. This is to give the crew a greater chance to escape at the end of the mission…the goal of which is simple. Capture the Prophets, and bring them back to UNSC space.”

Again the hand raised, and again Sam nodded her assent.

“Capture the Prophets? Not kill them?” the Master Chief asked.

Sam nodded again, “That is what I have been told. If the Covenant is anything like what I’ve been told, they would most likely escalate the war if their leaders were killed. So the goal is to bring them here, alive, to be used to broker a peace deal.”

With that said, Halsey stood back up. Sam knew her part wasn’t done, but the Doctor deserved to ask the next question.

“I know some of you already suspect this…but the cold truth is we, humanity, are losing this war. ONI predicts we have a few months, maybe a year at most, until the Inner Colonies have fallen and the Covenant move on Earth,” Halsey said softly, “Your mission is the hope we have to counter this. It is considered extremely high risk. Because of this, we are not ordering anyone on this mission. We are asking for volunteers only.”

But Halsey knew she didn’t need to say that. As one, all the Spartans stood ramrod straight, and stared right at her. If it were anyone else, Halsey would be intimidated. Instead, she needed to hold back tears…she could always rely on her Spartans, even if she hated putting them at so much risk.

“Very good. Thank you,” Halsey said, motioning Sam forward once more.

Moving back to the podium, Sam started talking again, “Now, the way this mission will succeeded depends entirely on your survivability. To this end, I have been given permission by my commanding officer to show you all the technology that will help you survive this mission.”

The holograms that had previously shown the Covenant ships and races faded and turned into a large representation of a tear-drop shaped Covenant Frigate with several areas outlined in red. As near as the Spartans could tell, the weapons, engines, and shield generators were all marked out.

“To capture the Faith, it was necessary to disable nearly everything aboard the vessel. To that end, the engines, power systems, weapons, and shields have all been replaced with technology from my world. The shields and weapons are based on technology of a race called the Goa’uld,” Sam began, “Instead of plasma torpedoes, it is armed with large plasma cannons, and the shields are now a bubble shield with far more efficient energy absorption.”

A video of two Goa’uld Ha’taks in combat (taken during one of the many battles against Anubis) was shown in place of the Faith. Golden bolts and shields were show in extreme detail, letting the Spartan’s know just what had replaced the familiar Covenant technology. Some shock was registered on their faces, military indoctrination aside. After all, the closest they had seen to the Goa’uld weapons were the pulse turrets that the Covenant used to make Archer missiles so ineffective. But it was nothing like the scale of the pyramidal warships weaponry.

After letting that sink in, Sam moved on to the engines and powerplant, “Perhaps more importantly however, we have replaced the Covenant power systems and slipspace drive. The power systems have been replaced with rudimentary Naquadah reactors. Naquadah is a special mineral that gives nuclear reactions several times their normal power, and even a small generator is more powerful than even the largest standard powerplants. This is currently the only ship in the UNSC fleet that has this reactor, as we have been unable to find large supplies of Naquadah.”

Letting them absorb that information, Sam moved on, “As for the engines…the slipspace reactor was toast. So we have replaced it with a Hyperdrive. To keep things simple, a Hyperdrive is a jumped up slipspace drive at its most basic level. It works by punching a hole into subspace, and keeping a ‘tunnel’ of sorts open for the ship inside. With enough power, a Hyperdrive can get between here and the Pegasus galaxy in three weeks. Or even faster, if the ship has the power. With what we can put in the Faith, we believe it can get to the heart of Covenant space in a matter of hours.”

Even the Spartan’s were shocked at that level of speed. Not even the Covenant could go that fast. But they held any questions, as Sam didn’t give them much chance.

“The rest of the technological changes are related to Project MJONIR. As that is Dr. Halsey’s project, she will be explaining it to you all individually over the next few days. That is all.”

[Skywalker_T-65]

High Charity, Ninth Age of Reclamation

Floating in orbit of a barren world was a massive structure. Resembling a giant mushroom, it was truly gigantic, dwarfing the hundreds of warships surrounding it. High Charity, the capital of the Covenant Empire. Floating around it were the hundreds of ships of its escorting fleets, looking like gnats circling the ‘city’.

Inside the massive structure, sat the large Forerunner Dreadnought, the ship that had brought about the formation of the city and the Covenant that called it home. And at the moment, it played host to a meeting among the High Prophets and an unfortunate Sangheili Shipmaster.

“Tell me Shipmaster…how is it that you’re ship was the only one to return to us from the Human world?” the High Prophet of Truth asked, crossing his fingers under his sagging chin.

The Shipmaster looked (justifiably) worried as he answered, “The Humans had a new weapon Hierarchs. A miniscule ship that the Fleetmaster wrote off as a transport at best.”

Looking up at the Prophets, the Shipmaster got a nod to continue, “However, this vessel had a new slipspace drive of some sort. It was able to make a jump above our fleet and attack with a plasma weapon.”

The Prophet of Regret interrupted the Shipmaster, “A plasma weapon? The Humans have never shown the knowledge in their pitiful brains to make plasma weaponry. Are you certain it was not a trick?”

The Shipmaster shook his head, “It was no trick Hierarchs. The weapon tore through our shields and hulls at a level not even our plasma torpedoes could match. The closest weapon we have is the Energy Projectors on the Carriers, and this vessel was far too small to mount one.”

“Interesting,” the Prophet of Mercy said, “This is a new tactic for the Humans. They have always tried to use their primitive technology and never show any desire to change it. To suddenly be using new slipspace drives and plasma weaponry is very interesting indeed.”

Truth nodded, “Indeed. Can you tell us anything further Shipmaster?”

The Sangheili looked surprised the Prophets weren’t angrier, but thanked the Forerunners for his luck before replying, “The vessel was unlike any human design I have previously seen. It was sleek and small, with no sign of their primitive cannons. It was faster and more agile than anything outside of human fighter craft, and seemed to possess a blue energy shield though so few of our attacks hit I cannot be certain.”

“Shielding too?” Regret said, “By the Forerunners was one of our warships captured?”

Truth held up a hand to calm his fellow Prophet, “Possibly. If so, the crew will never see the Great Journey. We will have to adjust our plans to account for this eventuality. You shall return to your vessel Shipmaster and prepare to scout the Human world again.”

“As you command Hierarch,” the Shipmaster said, bowing deeply before leaving the Dreadnought.

As the Sangheili left, Mercy turned to his younger counterpart, “You are sending him to his death.”

Truth nodded, “Of course. The knowledge that the Humans can equal our technology cannot be allowed to spread. A heresy is the last thing we need or desire.”

After saying that, Truth moved to a console in the back of the room. This had been set to monitor any transmissions from the probe that one of the destroyed vessels had been carrying. The hope was that the device would attach to a human vessel and gather data on everywhere it had been before jettisoning and heading back to Covenant space.

However, the console had never come to life. Truth had already figured out what that meant of course, as he was far from a figure head. He had a cunning mind, and the only reason that a Forerunner console would not work is if the device it was connected to had been destroyed.

“It would appear that the tracking device failed,” the Prophet said, turning away from the console, “No matter…it only buys the Humans a little extra time. Our next operation is well underway. Have you finished translating the Holy Stone?”

This was directed at Mercy, who nodded his aging head, “Yes I have. The coordinates are to a system deep in Human territory. I do not believe it is one of their worlds however. It is too far from any of their confirmed holdings.”

“Interesting. Prepare a small fleet nonetheless. I do not want any surprises on such an important task,” Truth said, “The Holy Crystal is on this world, and it is needed for the Great Journey to commence.”

The other two Prophets nodded their heads. Truth was correct as always. Even more so, since they now knew the Humans to possess advanced technology. Where they had gotten it was a mystery, but the Covenant would not falter. The Humans would never have the chance to reclaim the Forerunner Legacy. That was reserved for the Covenant, their loyal followers since the day they had seen the stars. And nothing would stop them from fulfilling their goals. It was only a matter of time till the Covenant found the Holy Rings and began the Great Journey. Only a matter of time…

[Skywalker_T-65]

Thankfully I'm on break now. So assuming the job I'm looking at doesn't take up to much of my time I should be able to update more regularly. Hopefully.

[Skywalker_T-65]

0600 hours, August 29, 2552 (Military Calendar)/
Epsilon Eridani System, UNSC Military Installation 0168-B, Planet Reach

Once again in a UNSC base, Colonel Sam Carter fidgeted with her new uniform. The stock aboard the Odyssey was sufficient, but it had been decided to start wearing UNSC uniforms when possible. While they hadn’t technically joined the future-military, the crew of the 304 had realized that wearing the other uniforms at least gave them some extra authority. Fewer people would question an order from a UNSC Colonel, than a USAF one after all.

That wasn’t a problem in this case though, as Sam was here as the SGC technological adviser again. In this case it was for the changes to Project MJOLNIR. And she was just waiting on the Spartan who had asked her the questions at the meeting, whom she had since learned was named John. A very average name, for a far from average man. Sam and the rest of SG-1 had read the files of all the Spartans (gained through some...creative...hacking), and they made even their own adventures look minor in comparison. Though the methods used to create them…still gave her a sick feeling. Using children like that…it was one of the main reasons that the crew of the Odyssey had changed their minds on ‘joining’ the UNSC military. They would help, but they couldn’t join when ONI still was willing to do things like the Spartan-II program. At least Halsey was genuinely regretful…Sam could tell the Doctor was constantly in emotional pain over what she had done to the Spartans. And that redeemed her somewhat.

But the object of her musings had arrived, lead by an older man in a Doctors uniform. The unnaturally pale giant slightly narrowed his eyes when he saw Sam in the UNSC uniform, but didn’t say anything. It did look like he had to physically stop himself frominstinctively saluting though. Too be expected really…when one is raised from childhood in the military, it was quite likely saluting a man or woman in a higher ranked uniform was far more than second-nature to the Spartan. Shrugging slightly, Sam watched as he removed his uniform and lay down on the cot that had been set up for this purpose.

Dr. Halsey chose this moment to walk in and explain what they were doing, “This will just take a moment Master Chief. We’re going to upgrade a few components in your neural-interface. Lie back and remain still please.”

Sam watched as the Master Chief, John, did as he was told. She couldn’t stop an involuntary shudder as she watched the incisions made on his neck though. Unbidden, memories of attempts to remove Goa’uld symbiotes returned to her mind. It took a concerted effort to push those memories back, mostly thanks to the ‘clicking’ noises that signified the fact this was modifying technology. Sam’s scientific mind took over, noting the design of the neural interface for later. After the giant of a man got back to his feet, Dr. Halsey lead them into another room. Inside was an equally massive suit of armor.

Sam had only seen pictures of the MJONIR armor until this point, and seeing it in person was quite a different experience. The dull-green armor was bulky, and had a large backpack, that Sam knew housed a miniature fusion reactor. This armor was easily the best she had seen, even the Kull Warriors hadn’t had it this good, aside from the energy absorption. Turning her eyes away as John disrobed again and put the armor on, Sam prepared her explanation in her head.

After Halsey had finished explaining the UNSC changes to the design, Sam started her own part.

“In addition to the changes that Doctor Halsey explained, we added some technology from my world,” the Colonel began, “For starters, we added a Goa’uld shield generator into your right gauntlet. By pressing a switch located on your wrist, it activates the device.”

As Sam finished saying that, the Spartan pressed said switch. The form-hugging modified Jackal shield turned off, as power was diverted from the reactor to the modified Goa’uld hand device built into the MJOLNIR. As the device activated, a shimmering golden field sprang up around John, the circular shield glowing around his body.

“This shield is far different from the ‘Jackal’ shield that was used for the rest of your armor. The Goa’uld shield theoretically has no limits to what it can stop, aside from power limitations,” Sam explained, “the more energy and momentum an object has, the better this shield is at stopping it…within its power limitations anyway. So a bullet or plasma bolt won’t be able to penetrate no matter how many are fired at it. But a sufficiently big explosion, or slow projectile, a knife for instance, will be able to penetrate fairly easily.”

John nodded before asking the obvious question, “Does it restrict my movement?”

Sam nodded herself, “Unfortunately yes. Using this shield leaves you stuck in one place. So it is only useful if you are under heavy fire and need to use it to fight back from a stationary position. It is possible to shoot a weapon from within the shield, so it could be used to cover an advance.”

John nodded again. His mind was already going over the tactical implications of this new shield. The idea of being able to just ‘stand and take it like a man’ was something he had never considered. Either from Innies or Covenant, he had always been drilled to avoid enemy fire, not soak it up. So most of him doubted that this ‘Goa’uld’ shield would see much use. Though he wasn’t stupid…it had its uses. It would just take an adjustment of his tactics, much like adjusting to the main shield system.

Deactivating the Goa’uld device, John caught an oddly shaped pistol that Sam had tossed at him. The weapon looked small in his hands, and truly was a strange sight. It looked like a carved snake, not a gun of any sort. Looking up quizzingly, John saw a grin on Sam’s face.

“That,” Sam said, holding up a similar weapon in her own hand, “is a Zat’nik’tel. Or just Zat for short.”

“Zat?”

“A Goa’uld energy pistol. It shoots a bolt of energy that resembles electricity. A single shot is able to knock down most any organism, while the second is almost universally deadly. We don’t have a large stock of these weapons aboard the Odyssey, but they can take down the Prophets with a smaller risk of killing them. Unless they are unusually frail, the first bolt will do no more than knock them
out like a light. So we’re giving what we have to your team.”

After saying that, Sam flicked her own Zat open, making sure to show the Spartan how it was done. She then pointed it at a target set up for just this purpose. Firing a single shot, a flash of blue ‘lightning’ shot out from the snake-shaped weapon. Since it wasn’t a living target, Sam didn’t bother with the second shot. Turning back to John, she shrugged slightly.

“Not much range on them, but very useful weapons really. I can’t tell you the number of times these have saved my life,” the Colonel from the past said with a small smile, “but that’s it from my end. Dr. Halsey can handle the rest.”

After saying that, Sam stepped back and let Dr. Halsey move forward. Sending a small smile of her own at the displaced Colonel, Halsey held up a small crystal that glowed with a faint blue-purple light. Sam knew what it was, having seen one in the ‘cultural files’ the UNSC had provided. The memory core of an Artificial Intelligence.

Interesting…so small… the Colonel thought, thinking back on her own encounters with AI…like the Replicators.

“I doubt you’ve ever seen one of these before,” Halsey said, speaking to John, “It’s the memory-processor core of an AI.”

“Like Déjà?”

“Yes, though she is far more advanced. This is Cortana.”

Having raised his visor by this point, John raised an eyebrow at Halsey before looking around the room. Obviously he didn’t see anything that would normally relate to an AI, like computer equipment. Halsey knew what he was looking for, and explained.

“The modifications to your neural net were to allow Cortana to interface with it,” the Doctor said, “There is a new layer of memory-processor super-conductor implanted into your armors biolayers.”

John knew that was the same material used in an AI’s core. Which must mean…

“Yes, the MJONIR will carry Cortana,” Halsey said, seemingly reading John’s mind, “The original design had nearly the same capacity of a ship-board AI suite. With some modifications courtesy of Colonel Carter…it can match even our largest warships. Cortana will interface between you and the suit and provide tactical and strategic information in the field.”

After that, Sam mostly tuned out what was said. She had already had this explained to her as she had modified the MJONIR. Though John’s resistance to the prospect was somewhat surprising. Then again, Jack hadn’t wanted Sam on the team since she had been just an ‘egghead’ to him at the time…so maybe the Spartans reluctance made some amount of sense.

She looked up again when a small ‘pop’ announced that Cortana had been ‘inserted’ into the Master Chief’s suit.

“Hmm…surprisingly roomy in here,” Cortana’s voice echoed through the Spartan’s speakers, “Hello Master Chief.”

If anything, John looked uncomfortable. Then again, he did have a woman in his head essentially. Though he answered quite calmly all things considered.

“Hello Cortana.”

“I’m detecting a high level of cerebral cortex activity…you aren’t the muscle bound automatons they make you out to be,” the AI said with a bit of a cheerful tone to her voice.

“You’ll have to forgive Cortana…she can be somewhat…high-spirited,” Halsey broke in.

“Yes ma’am,” John replied, sounding a bit relieved at the change in conversation.

“Now, we should begin the tests straight-away. There is no better way for you two to get acquainted than through simulated combat.”

“No one mentioned combat,” Cortana chimed in.

“The ONI brass have arranged a test for you and the modified MJONIR,” Halsey explained, “They want to make sure you are up to the mission.”

“Ma’am!” John snapped to attention, “I am ready for this mission ma’am!”

Halsey smiled slightly, “I know you are John. ONI…requires proof. Stay on your guard, I think some of them want you to fail. Be prepared for anything.”

“I understand ma’am,” John said with a nod

“Master Chief, you are ordered to count to ten after I leave. After that, there is an obstacle course you are required to run. At the other end of the course is a bell you have to ring,” Halsey said, breaking her previous whispering tone, “You are authorized to
neutralize any threats.”

“Understood,” John replied simply.

Halsey nodded and walked out with Sam. The two women went to observe the challenge. They watched the ODST’s move into the tent, rifles raised. If they didn’t know better, they would be worried for John. Halsey was well-aware what her Spartans were capable of, especially John. And Sam knew what that armor could do. So neither of them worried overly much in this case. Which was proved to be correct when the tent came fluttering down around the Spartan. John quickly swung the pole from the tent, taking out the legs of three Marines. Even from their distance Sam could hear the bones shatter…and she winced slightly. While they would survive, it would take serious work to get those Marines back to normal. And it was quite likely that two of the remaining three wouldn’t even survive after what the Spartan did to them.

After taking the Marines down, Sam watched as the Spartan moved to a gravel pit. It seemed safe enough, until John threw a grenade to the center of the gravel. The relatively small explosion set off two massive secondary detonations.

Mines...

But Sam didn’t need to worry. Cortana had managed to use the explosions and standard UNSC minefield layouts to make a safe path. While it was slow going, John walked through the gravel without setting off a single mine. He then took out a set of chainguns, only taking a small smattering of hits. It was very impressive to watch, but things were about to get worse for him.

Down on the obstacle course, John felt Cortana return to his head. The AI had taken a detour to find out what was going on at the nearby Fairchild Airbase, and had returned from that.

“I just accessed SATCOM,” the calm female voice said, “There’s a SkyHawk jump-jet inbound from Fairchild field.”

John stopped…could his suit withstand that type of firepower? It was very doubtful, if not impossible. Shaking his head of these thoughts, John ran. He knew he had to get through the rest of the course, and quick if he was going to avoid that fighter. He jumped onto the Pillars of Loki, somehow managing to move a half-ton of man and armor through the small poles, and quickly too. But not fast enough. A dot on the horizion grew quickly into the form of the SkyHawk, which opened fire with its 50mm cannons. The shells tore through the wooden poles, and took out a quarter of John’s shield.

Realizing he couldn’t take another pass, John through all caution to the wind and ran through the traps set up in the Pillars. He didn’t slow down, even with napalm and sonic grenades going off all around him. Turning around, John realized that the jet would reach him before he could possibly escape.

Turning fully, John whispered in his helmet, “Cortana, I’ll need your help.”

“Anything,” she whispered back…a hint of nervousness in her voice.

“I need you to shunt all, all of the power from the reactor to the Goa’uld shield when I tell you to,” John explained, “I can’t outrun the missile, or dodge it. We need to rely on the Colonel’s word with the shield.”

“I’m ready,” Cortana replied, a real note of worry in her voice now, “I hope you know what you’re doing.”

“So do I.”

John held a hand near the switch on his right gauntlet. He watched as the SkyHawk finished its turn, and a plume of white smoke extended from its wingtip. He watched as the Scorpion missile came screaming at his body. He watched as the silvery casing of the missile grew to fill his visor…until…

“NOW!!!”

John flipped the switch at the same instant that Cortana channeled all the power to the alien shield. The familiar golden shimmer surrounded John an instant before the missile would have hit. The warhead slammed into the golden barrier, detonating in a spectacular flash of orange light. John could feel the force of the explosion through the shield…but by some miracle it held. Warning sirens blared through his suit, as the reactor tried to recover from the amount of power it had used. John’s movements felt sluggish as the shield deactivated, his suit barely able to compensate.

“Run Chief!” Cortana shouted, “They’ll come back to make sure they get us this time!”

The AI didn’t need to tell him twice. John ran as fast as he could for the bell, ringing it. The sweet sound was the most beautiful thing he had ever heard.

Halsey’s voice broke over the COM channel, ruining the moment, “Call off your men Colonel Ackerson! We’ve won. Well done Master Chief…stay there, I’m sending in a recovery team.”

“Thank you Cortana…I couldn’t have done it without you,” John said.

“You’re welcome Master Chief,” Cortana replied, before her voice gained a mischievous tone, “And no, you couldn’t have done it without me. Though we’ll want to say thanks to Colonel Carter for that shield.”

[Skywalker_T-65]

I'm impressed with myself on this chapter. Longer and faster than expected.

That being said: I'm sure questions are waiting on the Goa'uld shield. From what we know of them, the personal shields can take anything sufficiently fast directed at them. Slow and steady (such as a knife or spear) will go through easily enough. But bullets or explosions are (in theory) unable to get through.

Logically, a sufficiently powerful gun or explosion will get through...but if the shield is like everything else in Stargate, more power=stronger. So I'm assuming that channeling all the power of the reactor made it strong enough to take the missile. Though it darn near overloaded the suit.

[InsaneTD]

Good chapter. I liked the change with the Goa'uld shield, though if chief had a zat, why didn't he use it? I the line about "creative hacking", I'd change it to creative networking, seems to fit the feel of star gate a bit better to me. Though I do find it surprising they managed it, ONI have dedicated anti-hacker AIs from memory.

[Skywalker_T-65]

Good chapter. I liked the change with the Goa'uld shield, though if chief had a zat, why didn't he use it? I the line about "creative hacking", I'd change it to creative networking, seems to fit the feel of star gate a bit better to me. Though I do find it surprising they managed it, ONI have dedicated anti-hacker AIs from memory.

He hasn't used a Zat before. So he probably didn't think to use it (super-soldier or not, he was focusing more on winning as quickly as possible).

The hacking and counter-hacking is going to be explained later down the line. I have plans for that.

[InsaneTD]

Look forward to reading it.

[Skywalker_T-65]

AN: Could have sworn I posted this...oh well.

0400 Hours, August 30, 2552 (Military Calendar) /

UNSC Pillar of Autumn , in orbit around Epsilon Eridani System, Reach Military Complex

Captain Keyes tapped the thrusters of the shuttle pod Coda . The tiny craft rolled and the Pillar of Autumn came into view. Normally, Captains did not ferry themselves around the space docks of Reach, but Keyes had insisted. All unauthorized personnel were restricted to a narrow flight path around the Pillar of Autumn, and he wanted to take a careful look around the outside of this ship before he took command.

Though it wasn’t his ship that caught his eye at first. Floating next to the Autumn was a Covenant Frigate, the purple vessel nearly as large as the human cruiser. That had to be the Eternal Faith, as the other captured Covenant vessels were being torn apart to study them. And next to it was the familiar, and small, form of the Odyssey. Shuttles and work drones flew back and forth between the three vessels, obviously ferrying men and supplies to finish the refitting of the larger two ships.

As Keyes nimbly maneuvered his shuttle threw the swarms of small craft, he got a closer view of the Autumn. The old vessel showed numerous signs of her age; rust-streaks spread over the hull, scorch marks from old battles still marred the armor, her engine baffles were blackened from hard use…it made Keyes wonder what he had signed up for.

Moving his shuttle closer to the hull, his sharp eyes picked out odd details. There were multiple weapon emplacements that looked unfamiliar to him. They looked almost like domes, sealed over by heavy armor. But a closer look showed that they had hatches to allow a weapon to extend from the hull.

“Those must be the ‘staff cannons’,” Keyes muttered, as he continued to examine the hull of his ship.

He picked out plating over the starboard docking bay that on closer inspection, was shown to be honeycombed. The hatches were the size of a standard Archer missile, giving away the reason the bay had been plated over. The Autumn had enough missiles to rival any true cruiser. Keyes nodded appreciatively to himself at that…it gave him more tactical options than expected.

Nosing his shuttle towards the stern of the Autumn, Keyes saw smaller engines that weren’t standard for a Halcyon class cruiser. He assumed those were the Hyperdrive engines that had been ‘slapped on’ to use Colonel Carter’s terminology. They looked quite small in comparison to the standard engines, but he would reserve judgment, considering he had seen what the equally small Odyssey was capable of.

Angling his shuttle ‘down’, Keyes saw that the 50mm mounts he had been expecting had been replaced with weapons that looked like old-style Phalanx CIWS. Most likely the railguns that he had seen aboard the Odyssey. The tech briefings had said they were quite effective against the enemies the ‘other’ Earth had fought, so he hoped that it didn’t cripple his ship to replace the older weapons.

Moving past the railguns, the accelerator coils for the Autumn’s single MAC came into view. They were small, but seemed like they hadn’t been modified in the same way as the rest of the ship had. That worried Keyes, as the MAC was indisputably the main weapon of his new vessel. But perhaps, like the hatches, it was more than it seemed. Keyes certainly hoped so, as he moved his shuttle towards the port docking bay.

Sitting inside the bay were three Longsword fighters, and three Pelican dropships. The familiar shapes were something of a relief after the extensive modifications to the Autumn. Though one of the Pelican’s had what looked like a serrated titanium ram mounted to its prow. As he landed his shuttle, Keyes felt it lowered down to the actual hangar deck. Once there, he grabbed his duffel bag and exited the shuttle.

Lieutenant Hikowa was there to greet him, saluting as she said, “Welcome aboard Captain.”

Keyes returned the salute, “What do you think of her Lieutenant?”

“You’re not going to believe this ship sir,” Hikowa replied, her normally stoic face showing a brilliant smile, “they’ve turned her into something special.”

“Like my starboard shuttle bay?” Keyes remarked sourly.

“That’s just the start, I can give you a full tour,” Hikowa replied.

“Please,” Keyes said back, motioning Hikowa forward.

The Lieutenant lead the Captain to an elevator, before pressing the button for D-deck. As the lift started to move, Hikowa turned to her Captain. She was going to start the ‘tour’ right away evidently.

“At first,” she said, “I was concerned with all the ordnance on board. One penetrating shot and we could explode like a string of firecrackers. But this ship doesn’t have much empty space—it’s full of braces, honeycombed titanium-A, and hydraulic reinforcements that can be activated in an emergency. And that isn’t even counting the modifications made with the technology from the Odyssey. She can take a tremendous beating sir. Assuming anything can even get past the shield.”

“Let’s hope we don’t have to test that,” Keyes said dryly, making sure he still had his pipe.

As the elevator moved through the ship, Keyes mentally prepared himself for the feeling of vertigo from passing through the rotating section of the ship. But it never came, and the Captain sent a questioning look at Hikowa.

“Artificial gravity. One of our ‘gifts’,” she answered the unspoken question.

Keyes nodded as the doors opened and they entered the cavernous engine room. The ceiling was four stories high, easily making this the largest compartment in the ship. Catwalks and platforms ringed the hexagonal chamber on all sides.

“There’s the new reactor sir,” Hikowa added, as she pointed at the center of the room.

Perched within a lattice of nonferric ceramic and leaded crystal, the main reactor ring was nestled in the center of what appeared to be two smaller reactor rings. Technicians moved around nearby, taking readings and monitoring the output displays on the walls.

“I’m not familiar with this design, Lieutenant.”

“The latest reactor technology. The Pillar of Autumn is the first ship to get it. The two smaller fusion reactors come online to supercharge the main reactor. Their overlapping magnetic fields can temporarily boost power by three hundred percent. If we add naquadah, the reaction can jump to as much as five hundred percent.”

Captain Keyes whistled appreciatively as he scrutinized the room, “I don’t see any coolant pipes.”

“There are none sir. This reactor uses a laser-induced optical slurry of ions chilled to near-absolute zero to neutralize the waste heat. The more we crank up the power, the more juice we have to cool the system. It is very efficient.”

Captain Keyes removed his pipe and tapped it in his palm. He would have to rethink the old tactics. This new engine was highly impressive. There were many more options available to him now.

“There’s more sir,” Hikowa broke into his thoughts, leading Keyes back to the lift, “We have fifty of the new ion guns for point defense, with overlapping fields of fire covering all inbound vectors. Nothing is getting close enough to strafe the Autumn with those intact.”

Keyes turned his head sharply, “Ion guns?”

Hikowa nodded, “Yes sir. They resemble the railguns I’m told, but are a different design. I’m told they were bigger on a different races ships…not the Goa’uld, but the Odyssey’s crew has been tight-lipped about where they came from. Apparently they had help from our best experts at miniaturizing the design, and adapting it for point-defense purposes. Those guns can tear through a Seraph or Spirit with a handful of shots at most. And if we can bring enough to bear, even a shieldless Covenant capital ship.”

Keyes looked dumbfounded by that….he hadn’t been told about these new weapons. Though admittedly he was just a ship captain…his history with Halsey aside, he didn’t need to know everything about the R&D boys. Though the tactical applications of these weapons were truly interesting. Every time he heard about a new weapon system on his ship, it brought more ideas into his keen mind. This was quite the ship indeed. But another question remained…

“And the MAC? It looks rather small,” Keyes asked Hikowa.

“It fires a special light round with a ferrous core, but an outer layer of tungsten carbide. The round splinters on impact—like an assault rifles shredder rounds,” she was talking so fast she had to pause and take a deep breath, “This gun has magnetic field recyclers along the length that recapture the field energy. Coupled with booster capacitors we can fire three successive shots with one charge.”

Keyes didn’t need to be a genius to know how effective that would be against Covenant shields. The first shot, maybe the first two shots, would take down the shields. The last round would gut whatever was left.

“And the staff cannons?” Keyes asked after thinking about the tactical uses for the new MAC.

“Set up across the hull, we have twenty of them sir,” Hikowa replied, “From my understanding, they won’t take down a Covenant Cruiser on their own, but coupled with the MAC they provide a large amount of firepower to be concentrated on several targets.”

Keyes nodded, “I take it you approve?”

“To quote Ensign Lovell sir, ‘I think I’m in love’.”

Captain Keyes nodded again, “Tell me about our single-ship complement. I saw several Longswords and Pelicans in the docking bay.”

“We have a standard complement of Longswords and Pelicans sir, along with the first prototype of the ‘X-301’ that the dockyards just finished building. One of the Longswords is remote controlled and armed with a Shiva, and we have three naquadah-enhanced HAVOK mines aboard,” Hikowa replied.

“And the ‘modified’ Pelican?”

“The Spartans got her and modified it for their mission sir.”

“Are the Spartans already aboard?”

“They were sir, but they left to receive the final upgrades to their suits,” Hikowa replied.

Keyes nodded…he would have to talk to the Spartans after they returned. It was important that this mission succeeded. So very important…






(A note: I originally did use railguns. But a couple reviewers on FF.N pointed out that they might not be as good as the old weapons. I personally don't agree, but there isn't enough evidence either way. So I just switched it to modified Asgard Ion-Guns. Ancient models though, not even like the ones on the Beliskner. They aren't stupid enough to give the UNSC access to modern(ish) Asgard tech. )

[Skywalker_T-65]

Soooo....completely forgot to update here again. That being said, I've got a couple chapters already written and posted on FFN, so at least it shouldn't happen again. Hopefully.

Anyway, on to the chapter!

1200 Hours, September 10, 2552 (Military Calendar) /

Staging Ground for UNSC Battlegroup Keyes, Epsilon Eridani System, orbit of Reach Military Complex

In distant orbit of planet Reach, floated a large group of UNSC warships. Made up mostly Charon class light-frigates and Lepizig class destroyers, it wasn't an impressive fleet even by pre-war standards. Of course, that was if one compared it to Covenant vessels, and used the old technology of the UNSC. However, these ships were unique. They made up Battlegroup Keyes and were the leading edge of the new UNSC Navy. Refitted with Goa'uld shields and weapons, and in some cases (such as the Autumn) obsolete Asgard weaponry retrofitted into point-defense weapons.

These ships were, pound-for-pound, more powerful than their Covenant equivalents. For the first time in the long war against the genocidal aliens…the crews of these vessels genuinely believed they could win any fight they were thrown into. Even in the now obsolete standard ships, the UNSC Navy had managed to take down Covenant ships…with the new technology beginning to filter its way through the ranks, the crews felt that the Covenant were the ones who were outmatched in technology now. And they took a savage sense of pride from that.

Thus, the crews were waiting with baited breath for the orders to come down from command to launch RED FLAG. This was their best chance at ending the war quickly, and they were proud to be selected for this mission. The only reason they hadn't launched the attack yet was the two missing ships that should have been floating by the flagship, UNSC Pillar of Autumn. The missing ships were the USS Odyssey and UNSC Eternal Faith. The time-traveling human corvette, and retrofitted Covenant frigate were playing the role typically assigned to prowlers…scouting out the Covenant territory, and looking for their homeworld.

"Still no word from the Odyssey or Eternal Faith?" Captain Keyes asked his crew.

"No sir, nothing on standard channels or the new communication systems," Lieutenant Hall replied, her headset filled with nothing but static and inter-fleet traffic.

Keyes nodded and absently tapped his pipe on his command chair. It had been several days now since the two ships, the fastest in his fleet, had gone on their scouting missions. And he couldn't help but worry. While the Odyssey had proved itself over Sigma Octanus, and in fleet wargames (outmatching anything the UNSC could throw at it)…it was still a small ship, and if they came across the likes of a Covenant Supercarrier, they stood little chance of survival. He worried even more for the crew of the Faith. The captured Covenant ship would quickly become Priority Target One to the Covenant, knowing how they reacted to even minor technology falling into UNSC hands.

"Keep monitoring the channels Lieutenant," Keyes ordered, "let me know the moment they return."

As Keyes stood up to observe his crew, the holostation came to life, Cortana's blue-purple avatar flickering on the platform. The AI looked typically cocky and unworried, but Captain Keyes doubted anything really phased her. She truly was like a much younger Catherine Halsey, without the Doctors more refined personality.

"I wouldn't worry Captain," the AI said, "if anyone can handle those aliens it's the Odyssey. I should know, I've looked at every bit of technology they've given us and extrapolated that…"

Keyes held up a hand, "Yes I know Cortana. You have told me before that the 'Goa'uld' technology they gave us if far inferior to what that ship has aboard."

The AI looked rather put-out at being cutoff, before brightening again, "Which reminds me. I have finished the modifications you wanted me to make to the Goa'uld staff cannons. I believe they are now twice as effective as they were when we first received them. Should be a rather nasty surprise to the Covenant."

"Good job Cortana. See if you can do something about the point-defense weapons. I'm not satisfied with their performance."

"Right away sir."

With that, the AI vanished from her pedestal, leaving Keyes alone with his crew again. Cortana was brilliant, but she did grate on the nerves occasionally. So Keyes let out a barely audible sigh as he moved for the hatch. He needed to talk with the rest of the crew, and figure out just how ready they truly were. Between the unfamiliar technology scattered on the Autumn and the gravity of the situation…it was needed.

Exiting the hatch, Keyes immediately saw marines and sailors walking through the halls of the Autumn. The ship had a full crew, and they were busy making sure the vessel was prepared for the battles ahead of it.

"Captain on deck!" one of the marines shouted, saluting after moving his MA5C to his other arm.

Keyes nodded at the man, not failing to notice his weapon. The new version of the venerable MA5 series was developed when the SGC group had seen examples of fights against the Covenant. They had noticed what the UNSC had noticed decades ago…to get through even a Jackal's shield took nearly a full 60 round clip from a standard MA5 series rifle. So combining their brainpower, the two human groups had started to see if something could be done. The result was the MA5C, which while it had a smaller magazine than its predecessor, fired a more powerful cartridge. It hadn't been used in combat, but it was hoped to be able to more effectively deal with the Covenant.

"At ease soldier," the Captain said, snapping off his own salute.

The marine nodded and went back to whatever task he had been assigned. For his part, Keyes walked through the crowd, heading for the ODST berths. There had been reports of problems between the ODST and Spartan contingents, and Keyes wanted to see just how bad things were getting.

When the Captain reached that part of the ship, he found it was like a different world. The ODST's had a distinct lack of discipline when compared to the rest of the marine contingent, and it showed in the fact that their berthing space was heavily…customized. Some of which was distinctly against regulations at that.

While the ODST's currently in the same room as Keyes saluted, they showed no regrets over the 'modifications'. Keyes declined to mention it, as they were excellent fighters, and some leeway was needed to keep everyone sane in this war.

"Captain on deck!" Major Silva, the commander of the Autumn's ODST detachment barked out.

Keyes returned the salute, before walking up to Silva.

"Major, I hear there have been problems between you and the Spartans. Is this correct?"

Silva shifted slightly, "There may have been some incidents yes."

"And why exactly is this becoming a problem?"

"With all due respect sir…we don't need the Spartans. My men and women are more than capable of doing this mission. Leave those rejects behind and we can capture a Prophet that much quicker."

Keyes shook his head, "We need you and the Spartans equally Major. Having our best men and women on this mission is of the utmost importance. I won't have any more incidents; we need everyone on the top of their game. You are here because you are the best of the best. Start proving it Major."

"Sir!" Silva shouted, clamping down on his urge to badmouth the Spartans. If it was proof that Keyes wanted…well, the Helljumpers would give him that proof. And show those genetically altered freaks just what they were competing against…


*HSG*HSG*HSG*HSG*HSG*HSG*HSG*HSG*HSG*HSG*


Meanwhile, in a different section of the Galaxy, the Odyssey flashed out of hyperspace. While they had been looking for the Covenant capital, the long-range sensors had picked up some interesting readings. The Asgard sensors couldn't make any sense of the scale or type of energy, it was even more foreign than the plasma reactors the Covenant were so fond of.

Thus, they had made a detour after informing the Faith of the move. The crew of the captured Covenant vessel had acknowledged the message and continued their own search, claiming that they were tracking Covenant fleets that were all moving to a similar location. Because of that, the Odyssey had moved at flank speed to the location of the odd readings, and arrived within a few hours thanks to the speed of their Hyperdrive.

"We've reached the destination sir," one of the new UNSC crew said from the helm station.

"Good job, take us in nice and slow Ensign," Cam Mitchell said, temporarily in charge of the Odyssey while Landry was working back on Reach.

"Yes sir," the woman replied, manipulating the (to her) odd controls to move the small warship further into the system they had entered.

The small warship moved along at a steady pace, powerful sensors scanning for any sign of Covenant warships. So far there had been no sign of the genocidal aliens, though that could change. And it was hard to tell for sure with that power-reading overwhelming the sensors. And if anything, the reading was getting more powerful the further into the system the ship traveled. One thing was clear…they were quickly approaching whatever the source was.

"Sir…what is that?" another member of the new crew said, staring out of the bridge window with a look of awe on his face.

"Hell if I know…but that is one big ring," Cam replied.

Floating in front of the Odyssey and in orbit of a gas giant was a truly massive ring. The obviously artificial construct spun slowly as it orbited the planet, managing to keep what looked like a massive ocean dotted with glaciers inside the rings surface. The structure was easily bigger than anything either set of crew had seen. Even Atlantis paled in comparison.

"Carter, are the scanners seeing what I'm seeing?" the Colonel asked after the shock wore off.

"If you're seeing a ring that makes us look like a gnat, then yes," Sam replied from the Asgard Core room.

"Any idea what it is?"

"At the moment? Not a clue, it isn't like anything I've seen. If the scans are any indication it's on par with Ancient technology, in age and design. But it's so far from anything I've ever seen, I don't know what to make of it. The power readings alone are higher than several ZPM's."

Cam nodded slightly, continuing to stare at the hypnotizing sight of the ring. On closer inspection, he could see intricate shapes on the metal 'hull' of the ring, some of which looked almost like docking ports. Though with the size of the ring, it was somewhat scary to imagine what type of ship would need those ports. If that was even what they were. With how foreign the design of the ring was, it was anyone's guess what the 'carvings' in the 'hull' were.

As Cam continued to examine the ring, his trained eyes noticed something. It was almost impossible to see, but it looked like silver dots were approaching the Odyssey.

"Zoom in on those…things…" he ordered, whereupon the viewscreen showed a metal machine of some sort.

The machine had an 'eye' surrounded by three booms, and what looked like a beam weapon mounted below that. While it was small on its own, the camera zoomed out somewhat to show that there was hundreds of the things heading for the human ship.

"Cam, I don't know what you did up there but those things have their weapons charged. I would rather not test how much fire our shields can take from technology this advanced," Sam said from the core.

"Prep the Hyperdrive for a quick getaway," Cam told the helmsman, who got to her task quickly.

As she worked, the swarm of machines got closer and closer to the Odyssey, looking like nothing more than a swarm of silver gnats moving to surround the warship. The drones flew around in perfect formation, not a single collision marring the group. And with the (relatively) small size of the Odyssey it wouldn't take much work to surround the ship entirely.

"Any changes down there Carter?"

"None. Though the drones seem to be transferring power away from their weapons…I'm not sure what they're doing though."

And indeed, the glow at the 'barrel' of the drones weapons was fading somewhat. That seemed like a relief, until the light suddenly got blindingly bright as the drones fired beams of light at the Odyssey. Instead of shaking the ship and flaring the shields though, the beams seemed to 'wrap' around the blue shield, forming a web of energy around the ship.

"What the hell is that?" Cam shouted as the ship began to shake.

"Some sort of tractor beam like device. They're pulling us towards the ring!" Sam replied.

Cam's eyes widened, "Get us out of here!"

The Odyssey's engines flared to life, struggling against the power of hundreds of drones towing it towards the ring. It was a futile struggle though. The Odyssey had powerful engines, more powerful than even the ones aboard a Marathon class cruiser more than five times its size…but they were proving inadequate against whatever these drones were. Because of this, the Ring grew in size in the viewport, slowly but slowly swallowing the whole view.

And as much as the Odyssey strained against its bonds, they refused to budge. If anything, the drones pumped more power into their strange tractor device. Nothing the human ship did helped, prompting Cam to whisper into his radio.

"Carter…would plugging the ZPM and Core back into the power systems get us free?"

Down in the Core Room, Sam shook her head, "Possibly. But it might just fry our systems with the sudden surge of power. You can't just 'plug in' a ZPM into a ship that easily, not unless it was designed with one in mind like Atlantis. It would take to long to set up without wrecking the conduits."

"So we're stuck with…whoever is pulling us in?"

"Unless you want to try firing on those drones…yes."

Cam thought that over. On one hand, it was obvious that in the numbers these drones possessed, they had power in excess of the current power supply aboard the Odyssey. And who knew what that meant in terms of shielding and weaponry. But if they just let the things drag them onto the Ring…who knew what could happen.

"Prep the railguns. If we can't break free with the engines, we'll blast our way out," Cam ordered.

But, as the crew began to power up the weapons, a loud noise echoed through the ship.

"Please don't power up your weapons Reclaimers. I do not want to have to fire on your vessel."

The crew looked around, wondering where the voice came from. And why it was calling them 'Reclaimers'. And of course…how it knew they were powering up the railguns…did the drones have sensors strong enough to tell the railguns were being powered up?

"Who is this and how are you tapping into our comm systems?" Cam asked, figuring the voice was listening for a response.

And it was, as the viewports showed a new image. A floating ball shaped machine with a faint pink glow emanating from its 'eye' stared at the crew.

"Greetings I am 007 Grieving Light, Monitor of Installation 02."

[Eternal_Freedom]

Most intriguing...

[Skywalker_T-65]

Must. Stop. Forgetting. About. Posting. Here.

Anyway:

1500 Hours, September 10th 2552 (Military Calendar)/

UNSC Eternal Faith, Unnamed System

A flash of light lit up deep space in an empty star system on the edge of UNSC territory. The purple glow spit forth a darker purple ship, the sleek vessel coming to a quick halt as its inertial dampeners and engines strained against the motion of leaving hyperspace. The blue engines at its stern flared as the vessel began to move forward again, albeit at a much slower rate than before. The formerly Covenant warship turned slightly to head towards an anomalous energy reading it had picked up.

The system the vessel was moving into wouldn't have drawn any particular interest under normal circumstances. It was a fairly standard binary star system, with only a 'Hot Jupiter' orbiting near the twin stars. Nothing special, hence the reason the Outer Colony Program had left it alone. The nearest system was the devastated Eridanus system, meaning this area had been under Covenant control for decades now.

Yet, the Eternal Faith was the first UNSC ship to actually scout this system out, as it was commonly assumed that the Covenant would have no more use for such a barren patch of space than the UNSC did. Add in the fact that most Prowlers were needed closer to home, and it made a certain amount of sense. Even the Faith wouldn't be in the system if it weren't for the odd sensor readings.

"Any sign of Covenant activity?" the Captain, a man by the name of Hans Schmidt asked.

"None sir," the sensors officer answered, "there seems to be something in orbit of the planet, but we can't get a good reading with all the interference from the stars."

"Move us closer, but stay in silent running, we don't want to prod a bee hive if the Covenant are here."

In military parlance, silent running meant that all non-essential systems were shut down and the vessel, in this case the Faith, moved at a slow speed to avoid detection. In space, this would normally be a useless precaution, as even rudimentary sensors could see the stars blotted out by a one-kilometer long warship. But the interference from the binary stars worked both ways. Any Covenant forces that may have been in the system were blinded to anything but close range scans if they were near the hot Jupiter. And that meant that as long as the Faith stayed a safe distance away and didn't activate any power-hungry systems, they might as well have been invisible.

Thus, as the ship approached the massive planet that was filling the view of the external cameras (the Covenant frigate lacking a 'bridge' like human vessels), they went undetected by the smaller, but still massive, structure orbiting the planet. The structure was at least ten kilometers in circumference, and had a…unique design. But it wasn't the station that drew attention…no, it was the massive Covenant fleet floating around it.

"Counting several hundred Covenant warships Captain," one of the crew said, "including one Supercarrier."

Faces paled across the crew at that bit of news. Covenant Supercarriers were very rare, and for good reason. At 28 kilometers long, they were larger than any other ship known, in either universe. The size wasn't for show either. It corresponded to a massive amount of firepower and shield strength. A single Supercarrier could decimate an entire UNSC fleet. Even the Odyssey paled in comparison to this monstrosity. A Supercarrier could obliterate even the dimension-traveling ship, its firepower greater than anything in either universe.

"Have they detected our approach?"

"No sir."

Captain Schmidt frowned slightly. On one hand, their mission was to figure out the Covenant homeworld. And a fleet this large had to be tied to it. A forward observation post perhaps? But on the other hand, the Faith was horribly outmatched here. And with its lack of a slipspace drive or its standard weapons, it couldn't be used to blend in with Covenant forces. So there really wasn't much of a choice after all. However important the mission was, they were under strict orders not to take any unnecessary risks.

"Hold here and continue to monitor the fleet. If they make any sudden moves, have the Hyperdrive ready to escape," the Captain ordered.

The crew nodded as the Faith slowed to a halt in orbit of a small moon that somehow survived in the hostile conditions around the twin stars. The ships modified sensors continued to observe the Covenant station and its accompanying fleet, watching as every ship (sans the Supercarrier) periodically docked. Whatever this station was, it was obviously being used to support this fleet. And said fleet was constantly rotating patrols, taking their security quite seriously. If it weren't for the (relative) small size of the Faith and the interference from the stars, it would have been detected a long time ago.

But as the captured ship observed its brethren, the Supercarrier began to move away from the station. At least three hundred ships of varying classes followed it, all of the ships moving on a vector that would take them out of the system. Wanting to avoid detection, the Faith flared its engines for a slow burn around the moon. A Clarion spy drone was left behind to continue to monitor this new development.

The small drone watched as the Covenant fleet formed a unified formation, with the Supercarrier and a new ship design sitting at the center. Both ships were obviously meant to be flagships, likely of respective squadrons within the fleet. However, it seemed odd just how small the second ship was compared to its monstrous counterpart. Then again, the Covenant ships rarely made sense to a human designer.

"Fleet is continuing to leave on an out-system vector. They are likely trying to clear the stellar interference. The station is maintaining its orbit."

"Follow that fleet. Maintain silent running."

With that order, the Faith began to shadow the Covenant fleet. If the enemy forces noticed the rouge frigate, they showed no sign of it. Either they couldn't see it (likely due to lingering sensor interference) or they assumed it was part of the fleet that had engine troubles. Either way, they made no hostile moves towards the Faith, which continued to shadow the fleet as it moved further away from its station.

Once it was fully clear of any effects from the stars, the fleet reoriented once more. This time, the Supercarrier moved to the front of the fleet, a truly immense Slipspace rupture building at its bow. The rest of the fleet did similar things, with the smaller ships 'piggy-backing' on the larger one's portals. Soon, all of the fleet vanished into slipspace, leaving the Faith behind, while the crew ran the numbers to attempt to ascertain its destination.

"Oh my God," one of the crew gasped, "its Reach sir! The Covenant are heading for Reach!"

The crew was stunned into silence by that. All their hard work in keeping the location of Reach hidden hadn't paid off. The Covenant had finally found it…and even with the rest of Battlegroup Keyes, Reach didn't stand a chance against a fleet of that size without reinforcements. And a lot of them.

"Activate the Hyperdrive! We're faster than the Covenant now…we need to get back to Reach and warn them!" Captain Schmidt called out.

The crew set to their jobs, not wanting to lose their last bastion before Earth herself. Quickly, a purple portal opened in front of the Faith, before the vessels engines flared, accelerating it into the portal. As the blue tunnel of hyperspace enveloped the ship, they could only hope that they would arrive back at Reach in time…all hinged on them warning their brothers-in-arms before the Covenant could arrive.

*HSG*HSG*HSG*HSG*HSG*HSG*HSG*HSG*HSG*HSG*HSG*

Sometime later, the Faith shot out of its portal in high-orbit of Reach. The Orbital Defense Platforms and the ships currently in orbit trained their guns on it, but relaxed when the proper codes were sent out. The Faith moved past the defense forces and towards one specific platform that was currently serving as the spaceborne portion of HIGHCOM.

"UNSC Eternal Faith, why have you returned? Have you discovered the Covenant Homeworld?" a message came from Admiral Stanforth, who was currently in command of Reach's defense forces.

"No Admiral, they have found us. We found a staging area, and a fleet that we believe is coming for Reach," Captain Schmidt replied.

"Are you certain?"

"Yes sir, I am. We studied their trajectory, and the only planet along its path is Reach."

A quiet sigh could be heard across the line, before Stanforth began talking again, "Good work son. Join up with Keyes and be prepared to fight. If the Covenant know of Reach, there is no point hiding that ship from them any longer."

"Yes sir!"

With their job done, the Faith left to rejoin its battlegroup. Stanforth watched it go, before letting out another sigh. They had tried so hard to keep Reach safe and undetected by the Covenant. But it would now appear that all the precautions and work had only succeeded in buying them some time. Now it was up to the brave soldiers and sailors to defend Reach until an evacuation could be set up. While the goal remained holding Reach, the fact was there was always the chance the Covenant would break through…upgrades or no upgrades. So they had to get the civilians and the mobile dockyards evacuated, to maintain Reach's population and construction abilities…even on another world if needed.

So, with that goal in mind, Stanforth left the command post for his nearby flagship. The Leviathan was the first of the Marathon class ships to be refitted, and it had been quite recently at that considering the older Halcyon class was being upgraded first as they needed them more. But the Leviathan was ready for battle, and ready to lead the lighter ship squadrons while the partly-refitted Trafalgar and Mushashi handled the overall fleet.

As he reached a shuttle, Stanforth watched out its window while it moved towards the massive Leviathan. The cruiser was surrounded by its lighter escorts, waiting for its commander before moving to join the rest of the fleet. Stanforth's pilot angled the small shuttle to one of the cruisers docking bays, before powering down inside of the newly shielded bay. The Admiral got to his feet to exit the shuttle, where he was met by a Marine escort.

"Welcome back Admiral," the commander of the escort said with a salute.

"Good to be back son," Stanforth replied returning the salute, "let's get to the bridge and get moving to the fleet."

As Stanforth walked to the bridge, the large engines at the rear of the Leviathan flared to life, pushing the mighty warship and its escorts towards the rally point where the rest of the UNSC fleet waited. By now, the fleet had grown to nearly 80 warships, all upgraded to some extent (mostly shields and hyperdrives). There were more ships coming from nearby systems, but their slower Slipspace drives meant it would be some time before they could possibly reach the system. The only saving grace was the fact the Covenant (while faster) were still a long way off.

"Message from the Pillar of Autumn sir," one of the crew called out as Stanforth reached the bridge.

"Play it," the Admiral replied shortly.

"The battlegroup is ready Admiral. We haven't been able to establish contact with the Odyssey however. The Prowler Darkness is ready to check along their last known path."

"Go ahead and send them out Keyes. We need every ship we can get, especially that one."

"Roger that Admiral."

A small pitch black vessel detached from the fleet and vanished into a hyperspace window. The rest of the fleet continued to move into a formation similar to the one at Sigma Octanus, waiting for the inevitable Covenant arrival.


********

Now then, my logic as it pertains to the Supercarrier being strong enough (in theory) to paste even the Odyssey is based on observed weapon effects. I'm completely incapable of calculating weapon yields and stuff like that, so that's what I have to default to. And in this case...a Supercarrier supposedly carries seven Energy Projectors as its main weapons. And since we know one of those weapons on the Supercruiser is capable of cutting UNSC ships in half from beyond the range of even an ODP, and the closest comparison we have in Stargate-verse is an Ori Motherships main weapon. Thus, having seven of them (plus other weapons) on the same ship...it stands to reason that it can be considered powerful enough to wreck the Odyssey.

Speaking of said dimension-jumping ship...it will be back in two chapters. The next one is the beginning of the new Battle of Reach (the Sigma Octanus artifact had Reach's coordinates in addition to Alpha Halo's...thus even without the probe, they still found it), and after that, we will get back to Installation 02. Hopefully I'll remember to post it this time.

[Eternal_Freedom]

I wonder if those delightfully powerful NOVA weapons will make an appearance. This is, after all, exactly what they were built for. And with better sensors they might just be able to spot the Covenant coming

[Skywalker_T-65]

1200 Hours, September 16th 2552 (Military Calendar)/

Covenant Fleet, on approach to Epsilon Eridani

It had been several days now since the Covenant Fleet of Particular Justice had left the Unyielding Hierophant on its mission to the world that held the Sacred Crystal. Some of the Sangheili in command of the fleet (notably the Fleetmaster Thel 'Vadamee) felt that sending the entire fleet was likely unnecessary. While they were all veterans and didn't underestimate the Human forces, there was very little that could stand against a CSO and its escorts. But they wouldn't question an order direct from the Hierarchs, so the entire fleet was sent out in case the Humans had found their destination first.

And now, they were about to exit slipspace, and find out just what awaited the glorious fleet.

"Reverting now Fleetmaster," a Minor said from his post.

The dark portal that was Slipspace vanished from the viewport, replaced with a view of a standard star system. Average, if small star, with a handful of habitable planets. Exactly what they had been told to expect by the Prophets. What they hadn't been expecting was a large human fleet in orbit of the second planet. By all appearances they had been expecting the Covenant forces arrival, and had moved into a defensive position.

"Humans…how could they have found this system?" one of the Sangheili Major's that served as security growled.

"What is the count of their ships?" 'Vadamee questioned.

"One hundred and eighty Fleetmaster. Including four each of the Human Attack Vessel Class C-1 and C-2."

Thel nodded his head, "Move the fleet forward. We still outnumber the humans. The Unwavering Promise is to stay behind the main fleet and use its Energy Projector on targets of opportunity."

"At once Fleetmaster!"

With that order, the massive Covenant armada began to flare its engines and move towards the human fleet. The Unwavering Promise held back, as it was a modified cruiser built specifically to 'snipe' as the humans would call it. The frigates, destroyers, and CCS-class cruisers moved to the front, red plasma glowing along their flanks as they charged plasma torpedoes. But before they could fire, a shout rang out on the bridge of the Ascendant Justice.

"Fleetmaster! One of our vessels is in the human battleline! The Eternal Faith!"

Thel's head snapped around, as the rest of the bridge crew turned to look at the Minor who had shouted that bit of news. As was to be expected of even a low-ranking Sangheili, the Minor didn't even flinch at the sudden attention. He merely brought up the camera view from one of the frigates at the front of the fleet.

And sitting in the middle of the human formation was indeed a familiar purple form. The Eternal Faith, one of the fleet that had been destroyed at the other human world, where the first Holy Relic in a long, long time had been found. But apparently, it had not been destroyed…but captured by the humans.

"May its crew never see the Great Journey," one of the other Minor's muttered, glaring at the human-controlled ship.

"Concentrate fire on the Eternal Faith," Thel ordered, keeping his cool as befit a Fleetmaster, "destroy that ship at all costs."

The red fire glowing along Covenant ships continued to grow, before being released in a massive barrage at the human ships. Said ships fired their primitive weapons in reply, with large platforms in orbit of the planet firing along with the ships. The weapons fire crossed paths, some human shells melted by the hot plasma. But before the torpedoes could impact on the Eternal Faith and the human stations, three large metal…plates…moved in front of the ships. The Covenant crew was shocked at the audacity of the humans, sacrificing some of their people to man those 'ships'. Naturally with the near-complete destruction of the Sigma Octanus fleet none of the Covenant crews knew about the sacrifice of the Cradle, so they were unprepared for this tactic to be used (again).

Their plasma fire impacted on the 'ships' burning through their non-existent armor, melting holes into the hulls. The 'ships' fell apart, melted and vaporized without so much as a minor explosion. But the remaining debris continued to absorb plasma fire, meaning that none of the weapons hit their intended target. But the human weapons weren't limited in the same way. The smaller weapons bounced off the Covenant shields, doing damage but taking two or more hits to break through.

The larger weapons however…the first of their shells to hit impacted on a CCS-class cruiser, the Truth and Reconciliation. The cruiser's shield flared brilliant silver for a split-second, before the human shell punched through and impacted on the hull. The Truth and Reconciliation shattered into a million purple chunks, and the shell retained enough momentum and energy to similarly obliterate an unlucky frigate. The same was true for the other nineteen shells, as they destroyed numerous Covenant vessels. To add insult to injury, human nuclear weapons flared to life, far more powerful than in older battles. The massive explosives vaporized shieldless vessels, and crippled ones that had damaged shields.

In the first volley, the humans lost three 'ships'-the Covenant lost one hundred. Growls echoed through the halls of the Ascendant Justice and the Long Night of Solace which was holding back with reinforcements. The vengeful Covenant fleet continued forward, seemingly shrugging off the massive losses, as more plasma gathered along their flanks. And this time, the humans would have no shields to defend their weak ships…

"Fire!"

The plasma launched forward once more, angling for the human warships. As the plasma continued its 'slow' crawl to the human fleet, the Unwavering Promise fired its five modified Energy Projectors, the blue-white beams crossing space and impacting on the human warships. What shocked everyone aboard the Covenant vessels wasn't that the beams killed the human ships in one hit…it was what happened as the beams impacted.

An orange-gold shield flared to life around the human ships, resisting the power of the Energy Projectors for a second before shattering as the beam carved through the human ships.

"Shields…the humans have shields," Thel muttered, "though they are weak."

As Thel watched, the human warships fired again, aiming for the Unwavering Promise which was moving back to avoid fire from the surprisingly powerful stations. As the human ships fired, they began to move out of their previous formation, likely to avoid the retaliatory fire from the Covenant. But they were too slow, as the plasma torpedoes impacted on the human warships. The strange shields held against one, or even two hits from the torpedoes. But they shattered when hit with anything more, and the smaller ships couldn't even take one hit before their smaller reactors overloaded from the strain. Twenty-five human ships burned and fell out of the disintegrating formation.

"Split the fleet, and attack the structures in orbit," Thel ordered.

The order was quickly relayed through the remaining ships, which began to maneuver even as the human weapons hit their shields. This time only a handful of Covenant warships took damage, and only ten were destroyed outright. Part of the fleet (including the Ascendant Justice) continued to engage the human fleet, while a small group of ships moved 'up' relative to the clashing fleets. Plasma collected along their flanks as the ships targeted the human stations. Said stations fired once more, destroying a dozen of the Covenant vessels. But the remaining ships fired their weapons, expecting to destroy the human stations.

But the infernal shield system sprang to life on the stations, taking the torpedoes with little more than a flicker. What the Covenant didn't know was when the torpedoes were fired all the power being generated by the reactors on the surface for the platforms was transferred into their new Goa'uld shield grid. It nearly overloaded the shields, but it nonetheless protected the stations which quickly returned fire, destroying the remaining Covenant ships attacking them.

Though it galled Thel to do so, he knew his battered fleet was getting the worst of this engagement. They had to retreat or risk losing too many vessels to destroy the newly upgraded human ships. So he ordered a general retreat, to link up with the forces lead by the CSO-class Long Night of Solace and the other ships that were still on an approach vector. But from the departing ships, a landing force left, heading for the poles of the human world. It was an improvised strategy, but they needed to get ground forces landed, and they could not afford any more surprises from the human fleet.

*HSG*HSG*HSG*HSG*HSG*HSG*HSG*HSG*HSG*HSG*HSG*

"That was too easy…" Captain Keyes muttered on the bridge of the Pillar of Autumn.

All around him shattered and burning UNSC ships floated, a sign of just how hard this battle still was. The casualties had been far smaller than expected due to the upgrades, but there was still at least fifty UNSC ships burning and dissected due to Covenant weapons fire. But even with that, and the large losses the Covenant had taken…they shouldn't have retreated so easily. Something was wrong…but wh…

"Cortana, scan the poles," Keyes ordered, the AI having been assigned to the Autumn for the duration of the battle.

The viewscreen changed from a view of the burning ships to Reach's poles. Hundreds of Covenant dropships were descending to the surface, much like at Sigma Octanus.

"Get FLEETCOM HQ online," he ordered Lieutenant Dominique, "Copy this message to the Fleet Commander as well."

"Aye sir," Lieutenant Dominique said, "Channel connected."

"Tell them they're being invaded. Dropships inbound at both poles."

Dominique sent the message, listened a moment, then reported, "Message received and acknowledged, sir."

The Super MAC platforms slowly reoriented before firing ten shells at each of the poles. Dozens of Covenant dropships were destroyed by the rushing air the shells produced, if not vaporized outright from the shells themselves. The UNSC fleet's frigates moved towards the poles, firing their weapons at the Covenant dropships. Hundreds more were destroyed…but Keyes knew that there was still a significant number that managed to get through. Reach had been invaded…despite all their efforts to prevent it.

And it didn't take long for said ground forces to reach an important target…FLEETCOM HQ.

"There are thousands of them. Grunts, Jackals, and their warrior Elites."

The transmission broke into static before returning, "They have tanks and fliers. Christ, they've breached the perimeter. Fall back! Fall back! If anyone can hear this: the Covenant is groundside. Massing near the armory…they're-"

It didn't take a genius to know what the Covenant were after…the generators for the MAC platforms. Take those down, and the stations would be little more than giant hunks of scrap. Keyes tapped his pipe against his hand as he thought of a battle plan. Obviously the Covenant had landed a significant ground force. And while Reach was (mostly) evacuated and had a large number of ground forces…they were limited in what they could do. They needed help, and fast.

"Get me the Spartan's," Keyes ordered, at which point the Master Chief appeared on one of the monitors, "Chief, I need you and your men on a Pelican ASAP. We need to support the reactor complex."

"Roger that sir. We will leave ASAP."

The Chief's helmeted visage vanished, and soon enough a pair of Pelican dropships detached from the Autumn, heading for the surface of Reach. Keyes watched them leave as the remaining UNSC ships moved to a new position around the defense platforms. A pair of frigates split off to help against the ground forces, while the remaining ships did their best to form a cordon around Reach.

The Leviathan moved next to the Autumn, the two cruisers forming an anchor point near Platform 15. And it turned out to be a very good thing they did, as Cortana soon pointed out.

"Spatial disturbance to our stern Captain!"

Behind the pair of cruisers, a Covenant Frigate flashed into existence.

"Notify FLEETCOM that we have unwanted visitors," Keyes ordered, as the Autumn and Leviathan reoriented to face the Covenant vessel, that was soon joined by two identical vessels.

A white flash of light flashed across space as the cruisers moved, one of the Super MAC's firing at, and destroying, the first Frigate. But it wouldn't be enough, as the other two started to come to life and charge plasma along their flanks.

"Fire the plasma cannons. Tell the Admiral I recommend the Leviathan do the same. We can't orient the MAC's quickly enough."

As the cruisers continued their (relatively) sluggish turn, the turrets along their flanks came to life and oriented on the Covenant frigates. Gold beams of condensed plasma began to flash out at a remarkably fast rate of fire, battering into the frigates shields. The Autumn and Leviathan focused fire on one of the frigates first, battering its shields down quickly, the gold bolts soon cratering the hull and blasting through to the reactor, sending the large warship up in a large explosion.

The other frigate survived long enough to shoot off its torpedo, before the gold beams found their marks and detonated that vessel too. The plasma continued on however, hitting the nearby platform. Thankfully its overtaxed shield held, though it was anyone's guess just how much punishment the shields could take…they had no lack of power, thanks to the planetside generators, but the strain of the hits had to be wreaking havoc with the emitters.

"Picking up activity just outside the platforms range sir," Cortana piped up.

And indeed, the monstrous ship from earlier had returned. It fired that infernal beam weapon, bisecting the frigate Gettysburg, even though its shield flared at the impact. That ship and its weapon had been the bane of the fleet throughout the battle, able to strike beyond range of any retaliation (as evidenced by the Super MAC's missing as they returned fire yet again) and with enough power to make the Goa'uld shields look useless.

Keyes frowned at that, as another ship (a destroyer this time) went up in a flare as its reactor was punctured.

"Plot a course Ensign Lovell," he ordered, "we are going after that ship."

"Sir?" Lovell questioned, before getting to his task, "yes sir!"

The Autumn's engines flared, as it moved away from the fleet. The 'Supercruiser' was far enough away that it would take a long time to reach it, and that had Keyes worried. That firepower would tear through their shields and armor like tissue paper. They had no choice though…or did they?

"Cortana? Can you plot a pinpoint hyperspace jump like the Odyssey did at Sigma Octanus?"

Cortana looked thoughtful for a second, before replying, "I can."

"Do it."

And with that, a hyperspace window opened in front of the Pillar of Autumn, as the ship flashed forward. Not even a second later it flashed back out of hyperspace on the opposite side of the 'Supercruiser'. The Covenant ship quickly began to turn in an attempt to get a shot at that Autumn, but Keyes wasn't about to give them that chance.

"Fire all we have at the bastard."

Gold plasma bolts, Archer missiles, and three MAC shells flashed out at the Supercruiser. The Covenant shield flared silver as it absorbed the first few hits, but the MAC shells battered it down. A handful of missiles got through and did some minimal damage, while the Goa'uld weapons blew holes through the ships blue armor, disabling one of its turrets. The enemy ship regenerated its shield, but fires blossomed underneath it from damage, as the Autumn moved out of sight of its remaining weapons.

"Enemy ship damaged sir. But it isn't out of this fight by any means," Cortana said, as a beam grazed the Autumn, overloading the shield but missing the hull.

"Launch the Shiva-equipped Longsword," Keyes ordered, a plan already forming in his head.

"Longsword away," Cortana replied as she maneuvered the Autumn like a fighter to stay in the Supercruiser's new blind spot.

"Fire all weapons at the same target," Keyes said calmly, "and when the shield goes down…ram that Longsword down their throat."

"Yes sir!"

Once again, weapons fire flared from every port on the Autumn, flashing out and tearing at the Covenant ship. The shield collapsed even faster this time due to the damage it had already taken, while the Longsword crashed into the ship's hull. As the shield came back up, the Autumn began to retreat from the Supercruiser, aiming to get a sufficient distance before the Shiva went up.

"Shiva detonating in five…four…three…two…one…" Cortana counted down, before the enemy ship was consumed in a white flash of light.

When the light cleared, nothing was left of the Covenant ship. Keyes smiled slightly as the Autumn turned back for Reach…but the smile faded when he saw the planet. A Covenant Supercarrier had appeared with reinforcements, all moving for the damaged UNSC Defense Fleet. Things just went from bad to worse…

..................

A bit longer than usual. But I didn't want to split it anymore than I already have. That being said, this is just the first portion of the Battle of Reach. We still have two more segments of it, though next chapter takes a quick detour back to the Odyssey.

And don't worry...I have plans for the NOVA.

EDIT: And the battle went more-or-less the same so far, since there wasn't much in the way of change here (short of using a NOVA). Goa'uld shields increase the survivability of UNSC ships to a certain extent, but they aren't invulnerable. And Staff Cannons have range limits, so it was still a long-range slug-fest for the most part.

Change comes in the next segment.

[Eternal_Freedom]

A few suggestions here and there. One, near the start you have "And then a shot rang out on the Covenant bridge." I think you mean shout, so I'd change that.

Also, Keyes' "open fire" line just feels really clunky. I'd change it to something more pithy, perhaps something like "Fire everything" or "Kill that bastard" or somesuch.

Other than that, really nice battle scene.

[Skywalker_T-65]

Noted. I'll edit that real quick.