The 13th Tribe Book II: A Symphony of War

[DKeith2011]

Info delivered and waiting on acknowledgement.

[Eternal_Freedom]

Good to know, but since I doubt the Yorktowns or Auroras will make an appearance in Book II, the only only other ship model I'd be interested in would be Jupiter.

[DKeith2011]

Just heard back from the modeler, terms are 50% up front and the rest on completion with 10-12 working days estimated.

If that is acceptable do you want to go first or shall I?

[Eternal_Freedom]

If you can cover the first part I'll cover the second.

[DKeith2011]

Shouldn't be a problem, I'll take a look at this next paycheck budget and see where it fits.

[Eternal_Freedom]

Ok guys, at the suggestion of LadyTevar, I'm opening up another thread called "Ships of the 13th Tribe" where we can talk ships, models etc. I'll be posting details/descriptions of the ships there, so we can keep this thread for story posts and discussions of the plot.

[DKeith2011]

Good idea!

[Eternal_Freedom]

It's back!

Daggers Drawn
Near Installation 05, Orbit of Substance, Coelest System

The small Alliance force was once again lurking under the Keyship’s stealth field near a Halo ring and waiting for the Covenant armada to arrive. While that much was similar to a short while earlier, virtually everything else was different. Admiral Cole and Dying Light had been unable to get any response from the Monitor, 2401 Penitent Tangent and so lacked any remote sensor data from the surface, though the Monitor had clearly disobeyed at least some of Cole’s instructions.

The three Covenant fleets sent to garrison this Ring were deployed in close formation around the structure and had quite clearly not been fired upon; meaning Covenant troops were on the surface even now, most likely seeking out the Control Room for whatever purpose their commanders had given them. Long-range observations suggested that the Flood Research Facilities may already have been compromised, though even someone not familiar with the Flood or their capabilities could tell that something was badly wrong on the Ring.

Whereas Installation 04 had a surface with the full range of terrestrial environments, from forests to icy tundra to searing deserts, Installation 05 looked…sickly. Large arrears of the surface were a dull shade of brown and green as plants and other organic matter decayed.

Dying Light had been very distressed by these observations. The Monitors only functions were to maintain their Installations and contain the Flood. Penitent Tangent had clearly failed at both, and Dying Light could only speculate as to what had happened to cause his fellow AI to falter in his task. A malfunction of some sort in the Ring’s systems was possible, but unlikely. Neither the Ark nor any of the other Rings had evidence of even minor malfunctions, even after their hundred-millennium lifespan. Hostile attack was also possible but equally unlikely – the level of decay present meant that Penitent Tangent would have been incapacitated centuries ago, and Dying Light was sure the emergency systems would have alerted the Ark in that case.

The final possibility emerged from the Forerunner’s dark past. One of their constructs had turned traitor and joined the Flood, the cursed 032 Mendicant Bias had caused so much havoc and devastation. It was distinctly possible that Penitent Tangent had turned traitor as well, explaining the decay and the lack of contact; the Ring’s emergency systems could be disabled by the Monitor in extreme situations.

Speculation could wait however. They had a major problem here, the Flood were loose on the Ring – with functional Covenant starships floating within easy reach. A single Flood-infected ship escaping would be catastrophic for all life in the galaxy. The easiest way to contain the outbreak would be to destroy the Ring, but that would automatically cause all other Rings to bring themselves to a firing condition regardless of the Reclaimer’s orders.

Clearing out the infestation one Flood form at a time would be lengthy and costly in terms of lives, but Dying Light could see no other choice in the matter. He opened a comms channel with the human commanders to bring them up to speed on that situation, knowing they had been focused on the Covenant fleet movements, the main armada being just minutes away in slipspace.

The humans decided to meet in person aboard the Keyship, the Asgard beaming systems allowing them to return to their ships at a moment’s notice. The meeting convened very quickly, and Dying Light laid out the situation concisely. Cole looked decidedly troubled.

“So we need a way to eliminate this outbreak that won’t take months and thousands of lives and also won’t seriously damage the ring itself, and we might face resistance from the Monitor and the Sentinels. The main Covenant armada will be here in minutes, I can remind them of the truce and warn them of the dangers, maybe they’ll pull their ships and troops back and we can glass the surface, or saturation nuke it, whichever works best.”

Jellicoe grimaced. “I really don’t like the idea of saturation-nuking the surface. For one, it feels far too Cylon-like for my tastes, and second that many high-yield warheads could cause a lot of damage to the structure if we don’t get the burst heights exactly right.”

Cole nodded sympathetically. “I don’t like the idea of glassing the place either John, but other than calling up the Marines and every Spartan we can scrape together I don’t see any other way – and that option will have a butcher’s bill at the end.”

Baird wanted to clarify something. “What good would deploying ground troops do anyway? We can’t bring enough here to clear the Flood out one at a time, and any ordnance they could deploy can be just as easily fired from space.”

Dying Light answered that one. “You are correct Commodore, however that would not be the best use of your soldiers. If Penitent Tangent has indeed turned traitor we would need to disable them and reset their programming, something that can only be done from the AI Core. Getting the Monitor back under the Reclaimer’s orders would be a great benefit as the Sentinels would then be able to assist in clearing the hostiles from the surface.”

“Are you sure that Tangent has defected? Couldn’t it have been a malfunction or something else?” Jellicoe asked, his deep-held suspicion of AI rearing its head again.

“That is possible Admiral, however the AI Core is located one-third of a circumference from the Flood Research Facilities and a similar distance from the Control Room. That the AI Core is the centre of the decaying surface area suggests a betrayal. Penitent Tangent has joined the Flood and must be reset if possible or destroyed if necessary.”

Jellicoe shook his head in disgust. “And people wonder why I don’t like AI’s…” he muttered under his breath, just loud enough for everyone to hear but pretend they didn’t. Cole coughed slightly and changed the topic.

“So what are we looking at? A surface bombardment to clear a landing zone, deploy Marines or ODST’s to establish a firebase near the access to the AI Core, and send the Spartans in to clear a path? I’m assuming we can’t just beam ourselves in there.”

Dying Light bobbed in an approximation of a nod. “Correct Reclaimer. The AI Core is shielded to prevent any incoming or outgoing teleportation. I would need to go with these Spartans to handle the reset or deletion process, I can also spin off another copy of myself to take over the Installation until a true replacement can be created at the Ark.”

Cole nodded. “Ok then. We’ll need to get the troops here from Reach….John, your Warstar can get there fastest, feel like playing taxi?”

Jellicoe nodded, his demeanour once again professional after his earlier slip. “Certainly. I’d like to offer my Marines, but they are still recovering on Reach while I think your ODST’s and Spartans were unengaged, so they are a better choice anyway. Plus if I remember the briefing properly, your projectile weapons will be more effective than our laser rifles. We’ll hold off until the Covenant fleet arrive, just in case you need something big killed before we go.”

Cole and Baird chuckled at that, before Dying Light brought up a display screen. “The Covenant armada is emerging from slipspace now, distance 50,000 kilometres. I am detecting a great deal of communications traffic, both between those ships and long-distance signals. I have also just received a report from the sensor network that a sizeable force is approaching in slipspace, at least three hundred vessels of battlecruiser size.”

Jellicoe blinked. “That’s new. I thought we’d accounted for all the Covenant fleet elements. This must be another force kept out of range of our sensors. Maybe we’re about to see the opening battle of their civil war.”

Cole grinned. “If that’s true I should head back to Everest and make some popcorn. How long until this new force arrives?”

“One hour Reclaimer. I am also detecting traces of a massive slipspace disturbance at the limit of my sensor range, I do not know what is causing it but it appears to be moving in this direction; it will arrive in approximately one day.”

Cole frowned at that. “Oh I really hope that’s not what I think it is.”

Baird had the same idea. “High Charity? Coming here?”

Jellicoe sighed deeply and ran a hand through his hair. “Must be. I can’t think of anything else that would make that big of a sensor image. Frak, that’s all we need, a three-way punch up between two Covenant factions and the Flood.”

Cole grinned. “I don’t know John, could be a fun spectacle. Anyway, I think it’s time we went back to our ships and got in contact with the Covenant forces. Agreed?” The other two nodded quickly and Cole had them beamed back.

He arrived on his bridge to find the hologram form of Hilary waiting next to a massive holo-screen, showing the positions of the different fleet elements, including the unknown approaching forces and the massive, but distant, disturbance. He nodded at the AI in thanks for anticipating the situation and began giving orders.

“Bring the shields to full power and ready all weapons. Once we’re at General Quarters signal Dying Light to drop the stealth field and then prepare a general broadcast on Covenant frequencies. And if you have some idea of a script from that Martial Code that would be great.”

Hilary just smiled. “Of course Admiral, won’t take a moment.”

The AI was as good as his word. Within two minutes the stealth field dropped and the broadcast began.

Covenant Supercarrier Long Night of Solace

Imperial Admiral Wattinree was gratified to see that the forces at this Ring hadn’t been fired upon and had indeed managed to get troops to the surface, though the sickly appearance of a third of the surface suggested conditions were very different than the first Ring. Reports were coming in thick and fast as troops mapped out vast subterranean features and all many of Forerunner relics, most of which appeared stubbornly non-responsive.

Troublingly, there were also a number of reports of squads or even entire detachments disappearing without trace in some areas, and reports of mysterious mechanical constructs floating in the shadows. Wattinree quickly reached the decision to recall all forces; the Ring was a curiosity, it could wait until the outcome of the San’Shyuum’s betrayal.

Those were just the reports from the Ring. Supreme Commander Narvik Arakee of the Defence Fleet had sent word that the Jiralhanae had begun their purge of High Charity, that the city’s weapons had been disabled and that Ultra Torgadee had most likely died defending the Control Centre. Worse still, the holy city had entered slipspace and was heading for this Ring, far faster than the Defence Fleet could manage although they were charging at full speed in pursuit.

The civil war has truly begun he though morosely. We cannot fight the Holy City on equal terms, and the Jiralhanae fleet is still lurking in the shadows somewhere.

A shout came from the sensor section, quieting the command centre.

“New contacts! Four vessels have just appeared outside of weapons range. It is the Forerunner Dreadnought, two of the human’s new warships and the Everest. General broadcast from Everest, the human Admiral Cole wishes to speak to you Imperial Admiral, under terms of the truce already agreed.”

Admiral Wattinree mentally sighed as he wished, not for the first time, that crises could come in an orderly queue and not all at once. He had no way of knowing that he shared that thought with countless human commanders over the centuries – that knowledge would have troubled him once, but not any longer. Humans were, in his mind at least, no longer enemies.

“Very well, open a direct channel.” The comms officer turned in surprise at that, knowing the standing orders regarding routing the Imperial Admiral’s communications through at least one other ship. Wattinree caught the look and nodded. “The humans are not enemies any longer, a direct channel, at once.”

The younger officer clicked his mandibles and bent to his task. Wattinree nodded approvingly, glad that Sanghelli were still able to question when needed, and then turned to the hologram that appeared of the human Preston Cole.

“Greetings Admiral Cole. I did not expect to see you again so soon…or ever.” The tone was carefully neutral and polite, without any actual humour or affection. With a formal truce in effect, the Martial Code required neutrality in all things, even talking to former foes.

”Greetings Imperial Admiral, We have much to discuss and little time. I see you have deployed troops to the surface of the Ring; I must insist you withdraw and quarantine them immediately.”

Whatever Wattinree had expected, it certainly wasn’t that. “And why, Admiral Cole, should we do that?”

Cole smiled. ”There are two reasons. Firstly, as the Reclaimer, the Halo Array and all its components fall under my command and control. This Ring forms part of that array, and you are, albeit unknowingly, invading and occupying my territory.”

Wattinree tensed, knowing full well the penalties the Martial Code demanded from those guilty of invading another warrior’s lands, though he took some solace in Cole’s “unknowingly” statement; the Code allowed an exception for that provided the invader left as soon as it was known.

“That is indeed a grave matter. I had intended to order an immediate withdrawal anyway, our warriors have more important targets than exploring the Ring. Why quarantine them?”

Cole nodded gravely, his own tone exactly as the Code demanded. ”That is the second reason. That Ring harbours a virulent and lethal parasitic life-form known as the Flood. It is what destroyed the Forerunners themselves a hundred millennia ago. A single Flood organism escaping on an FTL-capable ship is an extremely serious threat to all life forms. Any of your ships that recover troops from the Ring should be physically isolated, with shields and slipspace drives deactivated, and kept under the guns of other ships until we can confirm the Flood did not sneak aboard.”

Wattinree was momentarily silenced by that. The idea of some sort of plague that could destroy the Gods was terrifying, but if Cole was right (and he had precious little reason to lie) than the Sanghelli fleet could not take the risk. Not with High Charity and (most likely) the Jiralhanae fleet closing in on them.

He clicked his mandibles in frustration before answering. “It will be as you suggest Admiral Cole. In exchange for your warning, I offer one of my own. I have had word that the Hierarchs have begun their purge of the dissenters and the Holy City is coming here. It will arrive in one day. I would recommend you vacate the area to avoid the cross-fire.”

Cole’s hologram sighed in resignation. ”I thought as much. We are not currently in a position to deal with the Holy City, and the possible outbreak on the Ring must be our priority. I will be bringing up reinforcements to secure the Ring and prevent any Flood escaping, unless the forces of your Hierarchs approach the Ring or fire on my forces we will not interfere.”

Wattinree could see the sense in that – they only had a tentative truce and cease-fire, not an alliance after all. His trained mind dredged up another fact though, once received in the chaotic environment just before the failed assault on Reach. It was a risk offering the information, but it may help defeat the Hierarchs and further allay the fears of the humans that the Sanghelli and their allies would not follow the truce.

“I must see to my fleet, the withdrawal from the Ring and the quarantine. But I have one final warning for you, Admiral Cole. Shortly before we attacked your world, the Hierarch Regret reported discovering a heavily-defended human world that held the Portal, an artefact of the Gods that would lead them to something called “The Ark” to begin the Great Journey. The other Hierarchs would have received this message as well as the probable coordinates. I would recommend reinforcing that world as best you are able; the Hierarchs will certainly attempt to reach it and use this Portal.”

Although Wattinree could not read Cole’s mind, the sudden tensing of the humans’ facial expression clearly showed some distress at that idea. In Cole’s head, the idea of a full-scale Covenant assault on Earth, spearheaded by High Charity itself, was enough to freeze his blood in fear.

”I will alert my fellows. In exchange for that, I will offer you another warning. We have also detected a force of at least three hundred battlecruiser-sized vessels approaching in slipspace, they will arrive in fifty minutes. I do not know if they are you forces or not, but I would prepare for contact.”

Wattinree bowed his head. It was expected, but not welcome. Not so soon, and not with so many Jiralhanae ships – half again what his officers expected. And then Cole did something unfathomable just days before. He asked Wattinree for help; for the Sanghelli ships near the Ring to be ready to provide a plasma bombardment on the surface. Leaving aside the differences between human and Sanghelli, one warrior asking another to fire on his territory was absolutely unprecedented.

We are sailing in uncharted territory now Wattinree thought, before granting the request. It would keep the quarantined ships separate from the main fleet, and give plenty of time to destroy them if they tried to escape.

With their business concluded, the channel closed, and Wattinree called instead for an all-ships broadcast to his own forces. His orders were succinct, and would have been world-shattering had not his men become used to stunning revelations in the past day.

“All ground forces are to withdraw from the Ring immediately; the ships they board will remain in proximity to the Ring and be prepared to initiate saturation plasma bombardment of the surface on my order. Any ships that recover ground troops are to shut down their slipspace drives until further notice and will be fired upon and destroyed if they attempt to leave the vicinity of the Ring. All other fleet elements are to deploy in formation around the flagships, the Jiralhanae fleet of three hundred battlecruisers is approaching and will arrive in forty-five minutes. All ships will prepare for combat against the Jiralhanae.”

With that order, the Great Schism had definitively begun. Even as Wattinree contemplated the carnage to come, one of the new human warships vanished from the sensor display in a flash of light. The Warstar Jupiter had left for Reach, having finally encountered a hostile situation that she couldn’t solve with her guns alone. It was time to call up the Spartans.

============

So we're back, and Imperial Admiral Wattinree is proving to be a very interesting character to work with. At present, he's operating under formal neutrality, but he knows full well that the humans are unlikely to trust him to keep it for long. So, he offers a few tidbits here and there - but only ones that would ultimately benefit him, he's not altruistic by any stretch of the imagination. Case in point, telling COle that the Hierarchs know where Earth is will make the humans reinforce Earth as much as possible, perhaps even enough to destroy High Charity - or at least so weaken both sides that the Sanghelli can finish their civil war and the humans won't be able to intervene.

Anyways. Coming up soon, the Spartans and ODST's deploy to Installation 05 to reset Penitent Tangent, the Jiralhanae show up and engage the Sanghelli, and Truth and Mercy continue being total bastards.

[DKeith2011]

Excellent chapter.

[InsaneTD]

That's going to be one hell of a fleet brawl.

Awesome chapter EF. I'm thoroughly enjoying it.

[Eternal_Freedom]

Yeah it's gonna be messy, but High Charity may not stay around too long.

[LadyTevar]

Great chapter. I can't wait to see how you run with this.

[DKeith2011]

Is there a 'boom' involved in that 'may not stay around too long.'

[InsaneTD]

Well the UNSC still have a big bomb left that they were saying for High Charity from memory. Though I'm kinda hoping the good guys will activate the key ship at high charities heart.

[fnord]

Well, there's that NOVA bomb (maybe sarcastically named Tact, since Subtlety was expended already on part of the Covenant fleet), the spinal bang bangs of at least the Warstars, Phoenix, Dreadnought, and, knowing E_F, probably a supercarrier's suicide run into High Charity.

[DKeith2011]

Those names make me think of The Cultures creative naming conventions. The ones borrowed by Elon Musk for the 2 booster landing barges.

[fnord]

So not the Noun Of Pretentious Adjective , a la the psycho drop bears of Schlock Mercenary infamy?

As it was probably obvious, I was taking the piss while trying to get the litotes pitched about right.

Maybe Discretion for the third device that (iirc) was being kept back as a deterrent - tact, subtlety and discretion being three things not normally associated with tactical WMD (since a NOVA device can't, iirc, permanently alter stellar characteristics).

Yes, the Terran Navy Special Branch (motto: "Don't make us come over there") would argue the point.

[Eternal_Freedom]

The NOVA bombs don't have names. They had four, used one, deployed a second on Installation 04 as a last-resort, and Cole's small task force has another one handy, with the fourth being back at Reach.

[fnord]

Spoilsport.

[Natzo]

Oh, there is something I've been wondering and I'm not sure if I missed it. SG/BSG tech requires Tylium, Trinium, Naquada, and Neutronium. Are these available in the Halo universe for the upgrades? I think railguns/coilguns of the SGC are only possible due to tritium, for example. Naquadah and Neutrinum are needed for power generators.

[Eternal_Freedom]

That's a point I've seen crop up in a few fanfics, my take on it is this:

Tylium is a less-refined version of Naquada by another name. Now while Naquadria was shown in SG canon to be an artificial material made by a Goa'uld experiment, Naquada, Trinium and Neutronium were naturally-occurring...I hate to use the term "element" but it's a close fit - Atlantis made mention of the Asuran planet being rich in neutronium, which is why the Lanteans used it for their experiment.

Given that there are no fundamental physical differences between the SG/BSG universe and the Halo universe (same physical constants, largely the same materials etc) I am working on the assumption that Trinium, Neutronium and Naquada do exist int he Halo-verse, but the UNSC never used them because they either never found them or never knew to look for them, so the material is there but not readily available because they never surveyed for it and they'd have to mine from scratch - and the UNSC/Alliance forces have slightly more pressing concerns. Though with the facilities on the Forgeship Nidavellir that can change one element into another with moderate effort setting up permenent resource operations is a much longer-term issue.

It'd be like going back to, oh, 1750 or so and asking if they know where the nearest oil field is so you can start drilling.

Alternately, given that the Forerunner's built biiiiig structures made of some fancy super-metal, it's possible that the local sources of Trinium, Neutronium etc were depleted long ago - in which case the remains of the Shield World destroyed by the UNSC Spirit of Fire in Halo Wars will be salvaged.

Or it's a combination of those things. Either is reasonable in my view.

As an additional note: I'm working on the next few chapters which will involve the Spartans. I've decided to throw out the details of the Spartan-III's seen in Halo: Reach (which I have now played and I found it wanting) in favour of the Spartan-III's seen in the books, where all but a handful are already dead on high-value suicide missions that Lord Hood already mentioned. May also have a few prototype tools for John et al to play with courtesy of Alliance technology.

[Natzo]

Makes sense. Maybe the Ancient Humans used all the resources in their territory and the Forerunners in their constructs. Maybe there are human stockpiles somewhere. I suppose in this timeline they have yet to find Ancient Human Ship and ruins? Like https://www.halopedia.org/Site_Yankee-002-G3 or the inspiration for the Hellcat armors. If they find ancient human worlds, maybe there are vaults there. I'm surprised they didn't hide anything like in the Red Spot of Jupiter.

[Eternal_Freedom]

Interesting points. I think I'm going to work on the assumption that ancient human stuff is hidden here and there but the UNSC hasn't had the ability to find it yet - and while the Alliance/Dying Light do have the ability, again, they have more pressing concerns.

[Eternal_Freedom]

Ok. This ain't dead. I just haven't had the motivation to do much of anything these past three months.

Anyway. This chapter is largely filler and character stuff, serving to introduce a few new UNSC characters (at the request of my work colleagues, who picked the names and the AI's). And yes, I have got B J Blaskowicz (or a direct descendant thereof) driving a heavy cruiser. Also got in a South Park and Commander Keen reference, so I'm feeling pretty good about it.

Downtime
ODP-7, Reach Orbital Space
August 24th, 2552 (UNSC Military Calendar)

The hours following the battle had been tense and heartwrenching for those who survived, be they the medics desperately trying to treat wounded on the ground or in orbit, the emergency crews trying to locate survivors or shore up damage or the senior commanders who had to listen to those grim reports minute by minute. It would be said many years later that no-one escaped the battle unscathed, be it physical wounds, psychological trauma or just the enormous scale of the conflict.

Despite the grim subtext there was a note of hope in all present. For the UNSC crews and Marines it was the knowledge that they had faced their largest trial to date and emerged victorious – though all would admit it was a desperately close-run thing. For the Alliance force it was knowing they had, once again, made a difference. The enemy had come, they had fought and the billions of civilians on the surface were safe. Just as they had been at Terra four years earlier when the Cylons attacked.

The commanders had another thing to keep them optimistic, beyond the victory. The possibility of a truce with the Covenant, or a large faction of it, was beyond even ONI’s wildest hopes when they first dreamed up their Operation: Red Flag months before. With the Covenant military soon to be squaring off against the political leadership, fighting over locations well beyond UNSC space, the pressure was lifted – both the drawn-out yet inexorable Covenant advance from pre-Sigma Octanus or the merciless aggression of the general offensive. They could take a breather, they could continue their refits and building programs, shore up planetary defences. Even if the war resumed with whichever Covenant faction triumphed, the UNSC would be in a much stronger position, while their foes would be sorely depleted.

With this pressure lifted, and the immediate post-battle efforts completed for the most part, the remaining senior officers gathered on ODP Seven, initially for a general debriefing but it eventually developed into a general meet-and-greet, for even more than a month after first contact, most of the UNSC officers hadn’t met the Alliance commanders and vice-versa.

It was a larger crowd than usual as well. Every Terran and Colonial Admiral or Commodore was present, along with the UNSC Admirals and a group of a dozen Captains. Victor Suranov was there, as commander of the Reach defences. Jacob Keyes was with him. Commodore the Hon. Lady MacLuing was quietly chatting with Captain Welch of the Thermopylae, keeping him in a holding pattern until Lee Adama arrived, for Apollo was still checking on the survivors from the Pegasus and worrying about Starbuck – and how his father would react to the loss of another Colonial Battlestar. Also present were the rest of the UNSC heavy cruiser Captains – for while Admiral Harper’s First Strike Fleet usually fought as a single formation, it was technically divided up into task forces centred on each of the Marathons. All of them were experienced, blooded veterans. They were also lucky, having survived long enough in this long war to obtain such a prestigious command.

Perhaps none exemplified this more so than Captain Megan Casburn of the aptly-named Against All Odds. She was of average height, with long blonde hair pulled back into a ponytail. Once people had described her as having bright, shining eyes and a happy, open face, but as with so many others the war had burned that away, leaving a hard expression and a cold stare. She hailed from the lost colony of Green Hills and had been one of only a few to leave that world for the UNSC before the war began. She had been a Lieutenant on the frigate Rosaline when the Covenant attacked and overrun the colony in the first year of the war - and had no choice but to watch as her home was glassed. Subsequent battles over the decades left her as the sole survivor of the four million strong population of Green Hills.

She was talking with two of her comrades, Captain Holly Picton of the Fires of Orion and Commander Davies of the Blaze of Glory, a destroyer in the task force led by the lost Remember the Alamo. The former was a slender woman with a piercing stare and brown hair that hung loose down past her shoulders while the latter was a dark-haired and bearded man who had once laughed and smiled freely, but like Captain Casburn the war had taken that from him, if not in quite so tragic circumstances as it had for her. Also with this group, listening more than speaking and sipping a glass of water was the Terran Commodore Wallace, making a determined effort to learn more about his allies and a completely different culture. It was definitely a work in progress.

The situation was about to get worse though. They were briefly interrupted by a hologram appearing, a relay from the Against All Odds’ AI, who had long ago adopted the appearance and persona of John McClane – his first Captain being an aficionado of 20th century action films.

”I hate to interrupt Captain, but I’ve just heard from the Colorado.” This grabbed all three officer’s attention. The Colorado had been one of the frigates in Admiral Stanforth’s battle group that had taken heavy damage but somehow remained intact.

Captain Casburn spoke for all of them “How bad is it?”

John’s hologram sighed. ”Meg, it’s a god-damned miracle she’s even close to intact with the hits she took. Most of the crew are OK though.”

Captain Picton jumped on that “Most?” Her tone clearly told the AI who she was asking about. The three of them knew the Colorado’s commander very well.

The hologram once again gave the bad news. ”A pulse laser shot got through the shields as they failed and hit the bridge. Commander McCormack and everyone else there didn’t make it.”

Jack Davies responded in the only way he knew. “Oh my God, the Covvies killed Kenny? Those bastards!” Commodore Wallace blinked at the vehemence, but also the dark humour in his tone and the grim laughs that Megan and Holly gave in reply. He looked at Holly, one eyebrow raised in silent inquiry.

She quietly explained while Jack took a moment to collect himself after the news. “Kenneth McCormack went through the War College with us years ago. He gained a reputation for getting killed in simulations all the time at first. It became a tradition for someone to yell “You bastards!” when he got blown up. Never thought we’d have to say it for real though.”

Wallace nodded in understanding. “It’s not something you know how to deal with until it happens.” He shook his head wearily. “Lords that was the worst damn firefight I’ve ever seen, I don’t want to do that again.”

Jack, now recovered at least somewhat, looked at the extra-universal visitor in curiosity. He’d already decided that Phill was a man who could be a good friend, the familiar weariness after a battle helped build that connection.

“You been in anything like this back in your world?”

Phill nodded. “Not on this scale. This was what we in the TCN call an “all-in battle,” where we scrape up every hull we’ve got and fight to the finish. It’s always deadly, brutal and makes you want to sleep for a week when the adrenaline wears off.”

Holly smiled slightly “I take it you fought in a few of those.”

Phill could only grimace at the memories. “Two, before today. The Cylon assault on Terra when I lost my CO and my ship and the battle over Atlantis at the end of the Pegasus Campaign. That one wasn’t as bad…but I still lost a lot of friends.”

The UNSC understood that, their expression saying as much without a word. Phill pushed those memories back into their place and raised his glass. “To Kenny.” The others spoke in unison; “Kenny” and they clinked their glasses and drank.

Elsewhere Colonel Davis of the USS Icarus found himself with Captain William Blaskowicz of the Who Dares Wins. He was a towering, massively built man who looked like he could probably headbutt his way through an armoured bulkhead. This was combined with a deep Texan drawl that his family had maintained for generations. Colonel Davis, who had a keen interest in military history was fascinated by the man’s tales of his namesake and ancestor who had served with great distinction in this Earth’s second world war – a tale which highlighted that fact that the histories of the two worlds, while mostly similar, had some glaring differences just beneath the surface.

“He worked in secret Colonel, deep-cover black ops stuff that wasn’t revealed at the time. He pretty much single-handedly took out a massive Nazi superscience project, based on what we now know was some alien ship that crash-landed in Germany centuries before the war. Their chief scientist Wilhelm Strasse pulled it apart at his X-Labs and learned all kinds of things from it – until great-great-etc-grandaddy William blew it to hell. Neither side admitted it for a hundred-odd years, right when his great-grandson was leading the first mission to Mars.”

Davis nodded, this was truly fascinating and he made a note to get a copy of the historical database sent to the Icarus when he had the chance. “The grandson on the Mars mission, was that the guy everyone called Commander Keen?”

Blaskowicz smiled and nodded. “Yeah, he was so eager for that mission he worked at nothing else for close to a decade, spend ages planning what he’d do…and then ruins it. First thing he says when he steps out onto the surface was “Huh, no little green men, no tripods, guess it’s just us here after all.” Hardly very poetic.”

Davis was struggling not to laugh out loud at the thought of that. “Is that really what he said?”
Blaskowicz smirked. “God as my witness it’s true, I’ll get my AI to send you the recording. Apparently the guys back in Mission Control were either apoplectic with rage or pissing themselves laughing.”

Davis finally lost the battle and chuckled. “Doesn’t quite match up with “One small step…” does it?”
His companion laughed even harder, before Lee Adama arrived next to them. He looked haggard, worn and exhausted, as expected.

“Sorry to interrupt Paul.” Davis waved away the apology, knowing why Apollo was here. The Colonial officer turned to the hulking UNSC Captain.

“Could you point me towards the Captain of the Thermopylae? I owe them a great deal.” The look in his eyes told William the story more than words ever could.

Blaskowicz smiled. “Sure thing Commodore. Captain Welch is over by that scary-looking battleaxe Commodore MacLuing. Watch yourself though, the Honourable Lady” and there the Texan drawl became somewhat mocking at the idea of titled nobility “got herself real riled up for this fight, I think she’s still ready to rip something apart. Interrupt her at your own risk.”

Lee mentally translated that, the sheer variety of accents the UNSC forces possessed was surprising even to Colonials, never mind the Terrans, even with the common language being English. He nodded in thanks.

“I’ll take my chances, I owe Captain Welch too much not to risk it.” Finally a bit of Lee’s old humour and fire returned to his voice, enough to let Blaskowicz know he got the joke.

“Well best of luck to you and…” he trailed off, suddenly and uncharacteristically uncertain. “I’m sorry about your ship, I’ve been there before and it’s never easy to lose an old friend. She went down swinging though.”

Lee’s breath caught in his throat. The loss of his ship was still raw, but he had mostly ignored it by focusing on the crew. “Thank you. We got most of the crew off, and she made those bastards pay. Right now…right now I’m concentrating on my men and women, last thing they need is their commander having a breakdown. I’ll save that for later.”

Blaskowicz gently laid his hand on Lee’s shoulder in understanding. “That’s right Commodore. Crew first. But when you do need to grieve for her, call me up. We’ll give her a good ol’ Texan sendoff, bar tabs and broken tables be damned. Go talk to Sean, he’s one of our best.”

Lee smiled in thanks and moved off towards the Captain and the Commodore. As he walked, he heard snippets of other conversations, ranging from the serious to the silly as everyone came down from the battle in their own way. He almost stopped to join in the laughter as he heard Saul Tigh refer to his ship, again, as “the new Galactica” only for Mikhail Kirov to point out, completely deadpan, that Saul had now spent more time aboard this one than he had the original. The remark was amusing, the utter death glare Saul gave his superior was hilarious. Tigh held the glare for a few seconds before saying “ well she still has that new-Battlestar smell.”

Lee couldn’t let that slip, so as he passed he said, just loudly enough for the group to hear: “That’s because Starbuck keeps tying those cheap car air fresheners to the back of your uniform.” Even Saul joined the laughter at that.

After a few more steps Lee reached his target. The pair had noticed his approach and had halted their conversation, the Commodore had a smile on her face as she spoke first.

“Commodore Adama I presume? Or is it Sir Lee?”

Apollo smiled. “Technically it is both Lady MacLuing, but among fellow warriors Lee or Apollo will suffice.”

MacLuing smiled warmly. “Ah, I am glad to see gallantry is not limited solely to our version of humanity. Now, introductions. Sir Lee, may I present Captain Sean Welch of the UNSC Thermopylae. Sean, I present Commodore Sir Lee Adama of the Battlestar Pegasus.”

Sean smiled and reached out to shake Lee’s hand. “It’s a pleasure to meet you Lee.”

Apollo matched his smile. “Likewise Sean, my crew and I owe you a great debt for your actions.”

Sean looked faintly embarrassed at the comment. “I have no doubt you’d have done the same if the situation was reversed. I’m just sorry we couldn’t do more to save your ship.”

Lee looked down at the deck briefly, the pain once again rearing its head. “The damage was already done by the time you stepped in. If you hadn’t…well, none of us would have made it off in time, and there’d have been another supercarrier running around messing things up. We made them pay though, just like my War College instructor always said: “we may die, but we won’t make it easy or painless for the bad guys.”

All three officers chuckled at that, what would probably qualify as an unofficial motto for the various human militaries, be they Terran, Colonial, Tau’ri or UNSC. Further comments were curtailed by a voice over the station’s 1-MC.

”Pass the word for Captain Suranov, please contact Command immediately.”

In another group, Suranov groaned, knowing that this was likely to be bad news. He tapped a few buttons on his comm band. “Command, Suranov here. What’s the situation?”

”Sir, Lieutenant Myers. The Jupiter has just jumped in outside the defence perimeter, I have an urgent incoming call from Admiral Jellicoe for HIGHCOM.”

Victor looked at his companions, getting a nod from Lord Hood. “Most of them are with me, route the call down here Myers.” There was a brief acknowledgement before that line went dead and a new hologram appeared, projected from the ceiling. John Jellicoe looked around at the gathered officers, noting the assorted glasses and mugs in their hands.

”Sorry to interrupt the party everyone, but the situation is breaking loose over at Installation-05. The Covenant civil war has begun, we expect a major engagement there within a few hours…and High Charity appears to be on it’s way. The Covenant have also landed troops on the ring, but Preston got them to agree to withdraw under that Marital Code thing. The Ring is definitely compromised though and the Flood may be loose. We’re going to need every Spartan, ODST and bullet you can spare loaded on the Warstar to sort this out.”

There were a fair few muttered curses at that. General Maxwell put down his glass and nodded. “I’ll get the troopers geared up and ready to go ASAP” he said as he turned and headed for the exit.

Lord Hood just grimly nodded. “They’ll be ready for you John. You need any more ships?”

Jellicoe’s hologram shook its head. ”I don’t think so sir, I don’t plan to get involved in this firefight. But I’d get as much of the Fleet as you can ready to jump to either Earth or Reach at short notice. The Covenant know those locations, I’ll bet cubits to Vipers that the big holy city will head to one of them after it’s done at the Ring.”

Lord Hood couldn’t dispute that reasoning. “Very well, we’ll get the warning orders out and signal Earth’s defence grid to come to full alert. Grab whatever you need and deal with the Flood situation, we’ll deal with whatever else comes out way.”

Jellicoe nodded and the hologram vanished. Hood turned to Harper, even as the various other officers began dispersing back to their commands. “Out of the frying pan…” he started.

“Into the fire.” Harper finished.

[fnord]

Worth the wait.

Very minor nitpick - IIRC and going by their respective games, Billy Blaze / Commander Keen was BJ's grandson, and Doomguy was the part-tank-part-lawnmower's great-grandson. Whether Doomguy was also Keen's son was never, iirc, addressed.

”I hate to interrupt Captain, but I’ve just heard from the Colorado.” This grabbed all three officer’s attention.

Plural possessive instead of singular, since AAO's AI has got the attention of all three officers?

Tigh held the glare for a few seconds before saying “ well she still has that new-Battlestar smell.”

Lee couldn’t let that slip, so as he passed he said, just loudly enough for the group to hear

Lee couldn't let that pass .. ?