Lost Thoughts

 UNSC Clean Slate - Orbit of Herschel 

 

Unknown ships, be advised you are entering restricted space. Please turn around immediately.

 

Captain Stephen Collins braced himself in his command chair. Everyone was tense and alert at their stations. He looked over to the holographic display and the monitors behind it.

 

The carrier had been tracking the new arrivals ever since they exited slipspace. Preliminary scans returned showing a mix of titanium and other alien metals. Already the ships of the carrier group began to move to their combat positions. On the holographic display, a series of 20 red icons represented the unknown ships, miniature models of the UNSC ships group opposed them.

 

Recon drones were deployed to give the UNSC fleet a better look at the interlopers The feed from the drones came appeared on the screen, The group of ships had stopped short of the wartime debris field, the wrecked ships shielding them.

 

“Zoom Drone one in by 200%”

 

The field grew in size on the screen, allowing the bridge crew to get a good look at the enemy ships. There was a large collection of human ships, from this distance they looked heavily modified and worn down. The camera slowly panned left, showing off more of the fleets composition, a handful of old frigates, civilian ships and a destroyer. Then there it was, the purple glint of Covenant alloys, their bulbous outlines hid behind the human vessels. The human ships ignored all communication from the battlegroup, they stalked among the debris field.

 

“Captain, Brampton Menace is moving to a firing position, they’ll be in range in a few moments,”

 

The feed from drone two filled the viewscreen, focusing on a lone Charon Class frigate. Moving ahead of the battlegroup, the frigate held its fire as it got closer to the unknown fleet. Glancing at the holographic display, he read the speeds of the ships in his fleet. Most of them advanced at half power, only the frigates pulled ahead, lead by Brampton Menace

 

“Brampton Menace had entered weapons range”

 

“Send out a warnin,”

 

Brampton Menace fired it's MAC gun as a warning, the rounds streaked past a recovered cruise ship, annihilating a nearby asteroid and a wreck. Two of the looted frigates turned and began to move towards it, a single MAC round was fired in response.

 

The UNSC frigate struggled to move, its inertia carried it on a path to destruction. It fired it's emergency thrusters, jumping a few hundred meters to the right. Rather than landing a killing blow, the MAC round ripped through empty space a few hundreds meters off the port side.

 

Captain Collins bolted upright in his command chair “Obiko Status report!” he barked.

 

“All weapons systems green, we will be within range in twenty minutes” Obiko said, the light of the console shone on his slim face.

 

“Frigates Caught Lackin’, Brampton Menace and Actium’s Vengeance are moving to intercept, The destroyer Georgetown is holding position below the debris field.”

 

Obiko typed in some more to  his console, more status reports scrolled in.

 

“The system’s defence fleet is holding position above the land garrison, Cargo vessels are continuing to move on and off the planet”

 

The pair of Charon class frigates angled themselves towards the enemy, firing their thrusters they charged alongside the lone strident into battle, eagerly awaiting closer ranges. Their point defense turrets tracked the the ships ahead of them.

 

A salvo of plasma torpedoes tore out of the debris field, tracking the lead frigates. During the great war a plasma torpedo almost always meant certain death, however new technologies and tactics eventually made them seem trivial. The frigates deployed their countermeasures, the clouds of titanium dust stopping many of the torpedoes before they could do any damage.

 

Entering optimal range in 2 minutes, preparing missile pods.

 

A single torpedo continued on, locked onto Brampton Menace, the frigate remained on its course, seemingly unaware of the destruction approaching it. At the last moment the frigate fired it's emergency thrusters, moving over by a couple hundred meters. That was all it needed, for the torpedo to miss. It then began a large and slow loop, turning around to chase the ship. In response the frigate accelerated, buying itself some time.

 

The rest of the enemy fleet lurked within the debris field, sheltering from the missile and MAC rounds of the UNSC.

 

A two Kilometer long ship moved out of the field. Debris brushed off it's hexagonal sides, it's flat battle worn prow had a multitude of antennae sticking out of it. One of the largest ships was on a collision course with the Brampton Menace, the two titanium giants preparing to meet. The enemy ship fired missiles, gray streaks reached out towards the frigate. The frigate fired it's point defence turrets, intercepting most of them.

 

The frigate fired it's own missiles in response, a swarm of archers and howlers streaked towards the enemy ship. Tiny explosions and tracers filled the void between the two ships, fighters and smaller ships weaving  among the carnage. Their burning hulks cluttered the shrinking space between the two ships, soaking up fire from both. A MAC round from the frigate parted the debris like an arrow through smoke. This time the round was aimed dead center of the enemy ship, the 600 ton slug tore through the thin armour like it were paper. The enemy ship continued on its course, unaware of the damage inflicted on it.

 

More enemy ships broke from the cover of the debris field, thrusters at full burn as the went towards the planet. Actium’s Vengeance and Caught Lackin’ turned to intercept the enemy ships, golden streaks reaching out towards the metallic bricks.

 

There was a brief flash of blue light, tiny pinpricks of light grew into wormholes. The smooth silhouette of Covenant cruiser entered realspace, more followed closely behind. After a few minutes a small armada of Covenant vessels stood between the planet’s defence fleet and the battlegroup. Panicked calls filled almost all UNSC frequencies as the enemy fleet tore into the human ships.

 

One of the defence fleet destroyers took a plasma torpedo, the fore decks burned as the ship listed to the side.

 

Alarms wailed on the bridge of the carrier, the crew anxiously watched their screens as the enemy fleets began move around with impunity. On the screen he could see a handful of ships turning to engage the defence fleet, the rest headed towards the surface.

 

“Obiko, order the task force to retreat to rally point Delta, Also get me a connection to the defence fleet.”

 

Captain Collins felt a pit in his stomach as he finished the sentence, the view on his screen showed the enemy slowly overrunning the UNSC fleet. As bad as running seemed, wasting the fleet in a last stand was pointless. Taking whatever ships they had left and ru

 

An image of a woman in a naval uniform filled the bridge view screens, there was a large gash in her forehead and the uniform was bloody and soot stained.

 

“Admiral Wilson, What's the status of your battlegroup”

 

She opened her mouth to speak, the ship rumbled as it took a hit.

“Enemy ships are bypassing us entirely,

 

“My frigate and destroyer picket are being slaughtered, I only have a handful of operational ships left.”

As she said this more friendly icons went dark on the holographic displays of the system