This is the [url=http://www.bungie.net/fanclub/420219/Group/GroupHome.aspx]Game Bloggers'[/url] group fanfic. :D Prologue UNSC Destroyer Romeo August 15th, 2540 In orbit over colony Agoura Population: 3 million Priority: Significant "Colonel?" Captain Amadeus bit his lower lip as he glanced at the radar screens. "Order all ships to concentrate on that point, Captain. We need whoever these bastards are locked down. Agoura is just too damn important to lose now," the Colonel's voice rasped a bit through his white beard. He ran a hand over his bald scalp and checked to be sure that his M6 was loaded. "You heard him," Captain Amadeus patted the communications officer on the shoulder. "Get it done, lieutenant." "Yes, sir." All other dialogue on the bridge was kept to minimal whispers. The captain strode up beside the Colonel and saw the figures of the fleet represented on the main view port. The Colonel was right; Agoura was just too damn important. The colony was the biggest and one of the last Outer Colonies that hadn't been glassed to hell and back. It was heavily defended, for sure; an entire Marathon cruiser accompanied the Destroyer 4th flotilla. The Captain knew something special was going on down on the surface, but what, he wasn't quite sure. The Colonel was from ONI; senior staff this far out were rare. Every chance he had, he tried to get some information out of that white, scarred face. Nothing but diversions and "that's classified" came back to him. And for God's sake, the man's 'sloop' was a Marathon! Even better than that, really. It had upgraded stealth systems and weaponry, and from the rumors the Captain gathered from his flotilla it could perform in system precision Slipspace jumps. Unfortunately, the Captain knew that if worst came to worst, his ships would be a shield for it to escape; whatever vital information or material it possessed was probably far more important than five destroyers and a few frigates. Which was saying a lot, considering that destroyers were few and far between. At the moment, alerts were pinging all over the radar systems along Agoura's orbit. The pings weren't close enough in the Slipstream to be confirmed Covenant vessels or something else. There wasn't that much else it could be; the Insurrection was all but gone at this point, which left the 4th Destroyer Flotilla nervous and sweating bullets. "Captain, I think I need to head back to the Hrafnkell. Thanks for that talk. Let's hope we live to see another sunrise." The Colonel left the bridge without waiting for a response. A few minutes of silence and nerve-racking waiting was cut short by an announcement from the Radar Officer Lamb. "Sir, the contacts are in range of the Lagrange-1 listening post. Looks like..." Lamb studied her screen. "F-fi-five CCS battlecruisers, and, uh, a destroyer... and..." "a dreadnought." For a moment the Captain feared his hyperventilation might use up their whole air supply. Fearing his crew would see him and lose heart, he calmed himself. A flashback to boot camp came to his mind. "Come on recruit, just breathe. That's the secret. Breathe." the sergeant said, leaning over Amadeus as his legs burned. He'd been holding them up for an entire half an hour, at least. "Breathe, Amadeus." He did as his sergeant said, and focused only on his inhaling and exhaling. The pain in his legs ceased, and the shaking stopped. The captain breathed, and his shaking stopped. "Okay. We can do this, people. Just focus. Lamb, get the flotilla targets. I want the Hrafnkell and the Guðmundur on that dreadnought. Frigates on the destroyer and any fighters they release. Split everyone else between the rest. Elia," he said, referring to his comm officer, "get everyone in cover behind the planet. Have their Pelicans lay nukes along the Covenant entry point. Have the ODSTs ready for boarding action." Elia grinned, seeing where the Captain was going with his plan. "Yes, sir!" he said with enthusiasm. "Put us right on top of their entry point, one-hundred-fifty percent to the engines," he said to the engineer. The lights flickered as power was diverted. "Arm the SHIVA missiles for proximity detonation," Amadeus watched as they passed Agoura, stopping in empty space about a hundred thousand kilometers off the colony. "Thirty seconds until Slipspace re-entry," Lamb notified the bridge. "Drop the SHIVAs to move right in front of the bastards. Soon as they're out, take us away," the Captain leaned his hands on the cold steel of the railing over the weapons and observation deck. The weapons officer glanced up at the Captain from the glass-floored area with bright blue eyes, nodding an affirmative. The engines rumbled back to life, moving them as far as possible from the nukes. "Fifteen seconds until re-entry." "Five. Four. Three. Two. One." "Engineer, turn us around, one hundred eighty degrees. I want all power to the MAC guns!" The Captain yelled. Stars blurred in the viewport, and the Romeo swiveled around just in time to see bright blasts of orange fire coat the hole the Covenant had torn in subspace. "Find that dreadnought and fire both MAC guns and archer pods one through thirteen! Delay the rest of the fleet until the Covenant fire!" Rolling thunder cascaded through the ship, and massive vibrations shuddered through the bridge deck.Two massive slugs ripped across the stars, followed by streams of burst missiles that reminded the captain of fireworks. When the smoke of the nukes cleared, the entire ship was free to see the rounds impacting the shieldless dreadnought. Even the Covenant's largest ship took a healthy dose of damage from the uppercut of tungsten. A destroyer blocked the missiles, taking dozens of hits across its broadside. The nukes had dropped their shields with an EMP, opening them to all sorts of weaponry. The Covenant cruisers sent blue streaks of death towards the fleet, who were sitting just above Agoura. Unfortunately for the Covenant, gravity had a negative effect on their armament. The plasma dispersed. The flotilla rose, with the Marathon at its head, and the Covenant were totally decimated. The cruisers took hit after hit from the MACs, and the Archer missiles just added insult to injury. The alien ships began to nose into each other, exploding and causing a domino effect. When the dust finally settled, only the dreadnought remained, seemingly battered. But before the Captain gave the command to fire again, a sideswipe of light slammed into the Romeo's titanium alloy plates, sending the crew flailing around the bridge, and disabling the gravity systems. The last thing the Captain saw as he lost consciousness was the hundred new pings on the radar screen. [Edited on 08.27.2012 12:31 PM PDT]