[b][u]Chapter II: "The House That Funk Built"[/u][/b] [b]1600 Hours--April 19, 2543 (Military Calendar)\ Sargasso System, Aboard UNSC [i]Everest[/i] Orbiting Maremma[/b] With ravishing strides, the [i]Everest[/i] pushed forward into battle against the smaller Jackal vessels. Its rivets and bolts creaked bitterly under the stress as the massive cruiser willed itself into the fray. The engulfing shadow around the enormous ring lit up under the explosive impact of the [i]Everest[/i]'s missile rounds colliding with the clumps of ships that had stopped to fight. Some of the Jackal vessels rested dutifully over the ring's inner-atmosphere, taking the assault head-on. The missiles flared up across the dozen ships that held fast, absorbed initially by their shielding. Circling the Everest in quick turns was another half dozen of the hook-shaped craft, cutting and carving at the gigantic warship like a turkey with their boiling plasma cannons. From afar, the clusters of ships peppered the cruiser's hull with flashes of steaming white lasers. Scraps of titanium plating dislodged along the cruiser's port and starboard, clanking quietly off into space. In among the pirate craft and the broken shards of the beaten cruiser flew squadrons of Longsword fighters, desperately chasing off the larger Jackal birds that struck in hit-and-run attacks. Flashes of searing blue plasma, of fiery red explosions, and of dancing white sparks escaping from the exposed conduits of the [i]Everest[/i] dotted the scene in a silent promenade. In the distance, hovering over the mysterious ring, one of the Jackal ships exploded in a molten fury at its stern. Frantically dropping towards the ring below, the ship careened into another of the craft. In a flurry, stray laser beams from the desperate vessel washed over the hull of the second ship and pierced through its decks at close range. The first craft exploded mutely as the second tumbled, gutted, into the atmosphere of the ring and was torn to pieces. A second cluster of Jackal ships went alight as another vessel was engulfed by the [i]Everest[/i]'s missile barrage. Explosions swarmed over the ship's hull and ripped wildly at the cobalt plating of the curved vessel. It blew apart in a mesmerizing show of ignited magenta engine coolant. The battle froze for an instant as the [i]Everest[/i] shook horrendously. A downed Longsword flew at full pace into the cruiser's starboard, snapping through loosened supports and punching through deck plating. The fiery Longsword rolled into a blaze and went out with a blast that scratched furiously through the already exposed decks of the crippled heavy cruiser. The result left an enormous gaping hole in the ship's midsection. Oxygen from the exposed decks was devoured hungrily by the vacuum as corpses, ordinance, and metal supports were sucked out into space. [b]***[/b] Tom gasped for air as he fell to the ground with a thump, the airlock slamming convincingly just metres behind him. He coughed madly, cursing inwardly at his luck. Just moments ago he had been standing where now there was only space. The rotation of red warning lights in the shadowed hall and a constant deep siren recovered his senses. He walked as though on a tightrope, balancing slowly down the hallway as the ship grated lamely below him. The deck could give at any moment. Tom stuck to the wall, feeling his way towards a red service ladder some twenty metres away. Creeping along, a roof tile from above crashed down beside him in a resonating act as the ship jumped precariously under another pinpoint impact. Tom hopped and swiftly ran to the hatch. At least five men had been behind him when the deck had disappeared in a flash and the airlock had slammed down. Their deaths were too horrible to be imagined. Tom's throat tightened at the mere thought of the smothering suffocation of space. He furrowed his brow and focused his strength on turning the handle of the emergency hatch. The red hatch clanked open and he slid inside, closing it behind him. He began to climb gingerly down the ladder towards the relative safety of the hangar bay again. [b]***[/b] The [i]Everest[/i] slammed through an unlucky Jackal ship, crushing the smaller vessel angrily. All around, Jackal ships and Longswords were alight in a dizzying movement. At the cost of more than half of the Longsword contingent, only a few Jackal ships remained. They darted around the mammoth cruiser like scavengers around a great white shark. The concentrated firepower of multiple fighters had overcome the larger Jackal ships' shielding, but their pinpoint plasma cannons made short work of the quick interceptors when struck. The [i]Everest[/i] was now closing in on the ring, passing its near side and entering the space inside of the awe-inspiring creation. Grouped over the far side of the ring were more of the Jackal ships, the earlier clusters now bolstered by another half-score of the ships. The aliens were desperate to stop the wrecking ball that now squared them down. Local gun turrets on the functioning levels of the [i]Everest[/i] punctured the faltering shields of the remaining two pirate craft that buzzed in tight formation around the cruiser's fractured hull. Quick missile strikes eliminated the pests as the rag-tag Longsword squadrons came to bear in front of the injured giant. The half-dozen remaining Longswords grouped for a final assault at the blockade set up over the ring's atmosphere. As the sleek black fighters moved slowly into a staggered attacking formation, the UNSC [i]Everest[/i] fired a thunderous magnetic round that shook from its bowels and out at its nose from the first of its twin Magnetic Accelerator Cannons. The ship's main weapons had come online at the cost of the final engine. The magnetic slug pulsed through space in a flash and tore apart three of the Jackal ships that had been bunched together. It had gutted the first and continued through two more, as the opened craft fell away harmlessly from the alien blockade. The cruiser's second MAC gun began to light up at the stern, its magnetic coils heating into a blistering frenzy. The gun recoiled deeply but no shot fired. It had malfunctioned. Within seconds the cannon imploded and melted away in a blaze of iridescent colour, consumed by its own magnetic round. Vivid blues mixed with a wild orange as the [i]Everest[/i] cracked at its rear. The cannon shattered off the bottom of the cruiser dragging with it an entire section of the ship's stern and blasting another deep gap completely through the hollowed vessel.