UNSC Everest
Preston J. Cole
COPY TO: LOGISTICSOFFICE, NAVCOM, REACH.
OFFICE OFNAVALINTELLIGENCE, SECTION-III, REACH
0915 APRIL 18, 2543 (MILITARY CALENDAR) \ UNSC CRUISER
EVEREST\ FLAGSHIP BATTLE GROUP INDIA \ PSI SERPENTIS SYSTEM
THE BATTLE OF PSI SERPENTIS{AI RECREATION BASED ON
VIDEO, AUDIO, AND SENSOR LOGS—BLACK BOX RECORDERS—AND
EYEWITNESS ACCOUNTS}
When Battle Group India transitioned into normal space in the Psi Serpentis System, it was the largest assembly of UNSC forces: thirteen cruisers, twenty-three carriers, seventy-nine destroyers, forty-two frigates, five prowlers—and fifty supply, repair, and rescue vessels (those latter ships remaining in slipstream space for the duration of the engagement).
The wake from the massive transition into normal space sent a ripple outward from the fleet‘s entry point—a distortion across the electromagnetic spectrum that propagated from their location three million kilometers above the planetary plane of Psi Serpentis.
It made auroras sparkle over the nearest three planets. It caused a visible shift in the smoldering red eye of Viperidae, the gas giant with thirteen times the mass of Jupiter (with gravity nearly enough to crush and fuse the hydrogen churning in its atmosphere). . . . and the ripple passed through the massing Covenant ships on the far side of the system.
An unmistakable signal to the enemy.
The Covenant ships appeared on radar like a swarm of sharks in the dark—more than a hundred sleek organic silhouettes registered—CPV destroyers, light cruisers, and the hitherto unseen in battle CCS-class battle cruiser.
Their prows collectively turned toward Battle Group India, lateral plasma lines pulsing and illuminating hulls so it looked as if an entire alien fleet emerged from the shadows by sleight of hand.
The UNSC prowler Wink of an Eye , having been in system for seven days waiting for this moment, moved into its proper position and reappeared, only visible because its active camouflage skin could not keep pace with the churning red and orange surface of Viperidae behind it . . . the prowler sent a radar ping to the UNSC forces to verify its position, and then the Wink flash transitioned into slipstream space to drop guidance beacons.
Battle Group India one by one moved into slipstream space, the preliminary Shaw-Fujikawa calculations having been done a week previously by Cole himself.
And the entire fleet then reappeared two seconds later, one hundred thousand kilometers on the opposite side of Viperidae—positioned so the gas giant blocked the enemy sight line.
UNSC FTL technology, however, was not perfect—especially over short intersystem hops near
gravity wells. A dozen UNSC ships reappeared, scattered from the main group.
The Covenant fleet angled toward the stragglers and accelerated to attack speed.
Cole‘s fleet split into two wings, both using the gravity of the gas giant to slingshot around either side of the planet—and toward the onrushing enemy armada.
In response, the Covenant fleet also split to track each portion of the UNSC forces on either side of the Viperidae.
The starboard wing of the UNSC fleet, however, shifted its orbital burn—arced up and over the gas giant and angled back to meet the rest of the battle group.
Engine cones flaring with the power from overloaded reactors, the human ships reunited and rocketed toward the port-side breach in the Covenant line.
A dozen nuclear-tipped Shiva missiles launched, crossed the space between the two converging forces, and detonated harmlessly before reaching a single enemy vessel.
But as the Covenant loosed their plasma charges, the exploding clouds of superheated gas from nuclear detonations scattered the alien weapons, rendering them ineffective.
Just as the Covenant fleet came into Battle Group India‘s optimal magnetic accelerator cannon range.
A dozen MAC slugs struck the leading Covenant ships—impacts timed microseconds apart as they hammered down energy shields, punched through hulls, penetrated through and through, and sent thirty-seven of the alien CPV-class destroyers careening through space.
As the two forces closed, however, a cloud of nuclear fire no longer protected the UNSC vessels, and plasma lines lanced through the vacuum, tearing into titanium-A armor and breaching reactors.
Archer missiles fired at extreme close range to fill the space with flash and detonations, but this did little to stop the enemy.
Three human destroyers crashed headlong into a Covenant battle cruiser—their hulls splintered and the entire mass engulfed in a blob of plasma.
As the fleets sped past one another, the UNSC ships fired thrusters, spun about one hundred eighty degrees, and launched Archer missiles to provide cover from the Covenant‘s devastating plasma weaponry.
The Covenant had lost statistically more vessels than was typical in an engagement with the UNSC.
Twenty-three alien ships of the line now drifted in space inert or burning from within as their reactors overloaded and vented plasma.
But Battle Group India had lost more than a third of her ships, and nearly every one of those that had survived was now scoured and pitted or had decks breached—
With one noticeable exception: Everest , which had led the charge, emerged unscathed.
Meanwhile, the other wing of the Covenant armada that had been outmaneuvered on the first pass came about—spinning in place as the UNSC fleet had done . . . slowing . . . and then pursuing Cole‘s ships.
Swarms of Archer missiles fired from Battle Group India. Their MAC systems had yet to recycle for another shot. The UNSC ships scattered, moving apart like an opening blossom—
—as the second wave of Covenant vessels opened fire.
The UNSC destroyer Agincourt charged headlong into concentrated streams of incoming plasma lines—sacrificing itself to save her sister ships.
And still the alien fleet picked off a dozen more human vessels.
Both sides were now scattered across the system. The first Covenant forces to engage, however, caught up with those now in pursuit. The human ships regrouped and changed course back toward the gas giant, accelerating and keeping just out of effective range of the enemy‘s plasma.
Cole‘s fleet might have escaped, and yet the UNSC ships collectively slowed to allow the Covenant fleet to gain a tiny bit—as both groups of ships sped around Viperidae.
The Covenant armada lost sight of their prey due to the curvature of the gas giant.
As they emerged in hot pursuit of Battle Group India they saw brilliant blue flashes of Cherenkov radiation, the result of multiple slipstream transitions into normal space.
A new fleet of human ships appeared, barreling on an interceptor trajectory toward the aliens.
Fifty-five ships—highly modified older UNSC warships, merchant vessels bristling with missile pods, and entirely new designs that neither human nor Covenant had ever seen before—led by Bellicose plunged into the center of the Covenant fleet and opened fire.
MAC slugs tore into the enemy vessels as they accelerated toward one another. Plasma lines
launched—many deflected by the strong magnetic field of the gas giant in proximity. Ships collided and scraped hulls, and a dozen craft from both sides fell into the boiling clouds of Viperidae‘s upper atmosphere and perished.
Then the two forces flashed past one another . . . and the Covenant emerged, their forces decimated and wounded . . . less than half the original strength.
The insurgent-led forces had lost one-quarter of their number. They did not turn to fight, however.
They continued on their trajectory out of the Psi Serpentis system where, and with dozens of crackling blue flashes, they transitioned back into slipstream space.
Cole‘s fleet had altered course into a high parabolic orbit, turning toward the enemy, their collective MAC systems shimmering with superconductive sparks of power—aimed directly at what remained of the Covenant fleet.
A mere million kilometers distant, however, space again rippled as new slipspace ruptures appeared . . . three . . . and a dozen . . . a hundred . . . then a fleet of more than two hundred Covenant ships appeared in normal space accelerating toward Viperidae.
The UNSC ships continued a full ten seconds on their current course, firing neither weapons nor engines.
COM traffic from Everest was on a secure and scrambled channel—private, for admirals to captains only—that was then deleted by a viral worm.
The channel closed and the UNSC fleet moved off at flank speed—leaving Everest alone to face the enemy.
Everest‘s engines flared and she slipped deeper toward the gas giant. Her MACs powered down and every external light went off. All her missile silo doors, however, opened.
The mass of the fresh Covenant armada turned to pursue the retreating Battle Group India.
COM CHANNEL (BROADBAND ALPHA-THETA) from UNSC Everest : ― Listen to me,
Covenant. I am Vice Admiral Preston J. Cole commanding the human flagship, Everest. You claim to be the holy and glorious inheritors of the universe? I spit on your so-called holiness. You dare judge us unfit? After I have personally sent more than three hundred of your vainglorious ships to hell?
After kicking your collective butts off Harvest—not once—but twice? From where I sit, we are the worthy inheritors. You think otherwise, you can come and try to prove me wrong.”
The Covenant fleet, both damaged vessels and fresh reinforcements, turned to Everest . Some ships rushed toward her position, while others skirted around the Viperidae—cutting off any possible escape vector.
Everest tightened its orbit and vanished from view as it moved to the far side of the gas giant.
She did not slingshot out as she had done on previous occasions, but rather emerged again on the near side of Viperidae along the trajectory so low, the cruiser could never recover from the inevitable gravity spiral into the gas giant‘s crushing atmosphere.
The leading Covenant ships fired.
A hundred plasma streams lanced toward their target . . . but spiraled about themselves and dissipated in the extreme magnetosphere of the gas giant.