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The Spear of Tyr by Gre'Thor117
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The Spear of Tyr
Date: 11 November 2003, 6:04 AM
The year is 2552, and the Human War effort is not going too well. For two and a half decades, we have been combating against the mighty Covenant Armada, yet our planets have been whittled down to only a few strongholds remaining. Those planets that we have fought for have fallen to be glassed by the Covenant, and our bases have been reduced to free floating atoms. The ashes of billions of warships and men lie strewn across hundreds of light-years, and we have yet to strike an effective blow against the Covenant. Our fleets of starships have been engaged and all that have resulted was one defeat upon another. We have failed all but one of the dozens of battles for our planets, and along with that hundreds of starships and thousands of men have perished upon the Covenant.
Reach has fallen, and the Pillar of Autumn is currently unaccounted for. The Spartan IIs are also missing, and ONI is not giving any details whether or not if they escaped the hell of the battlefields on Reach before it was glassed. Despite all their hidden files on the matter, it is obvious that we have lost a very valuable asset in winning this war, and morale has continued to drop from such rumors and speculation. As for the whereabouts of my ship, the Spear of Tyr, we were currently in shipyard over Earth for repair and refit. Though a terrible blow has been struck to Earth's empire and the Empire's resources are on the verge of almost being depleted and exhaustion, ONI has determined the cause of the Covenant invasion and is willing to devote much needed time and resources to a new tactic. We have orders in great detail that we will implement the same strategy against the Covenant, and if successful, an invasion attempt against one of their home worlds will result in apocalyptic losses on their sides.
The S.O.T. battle group, consisting of the flagship Tyr, a recently commissioned Battle Cruiser, and its escorts, the two heavy MAC destroyers Lance and Red Tail, three heavy missile frigates Alamo, Harvest, and Cole, the lone experimental heavy ion destroyer Mauler, sister ship of the famed Phelios, and finally the light destroyer class tender Minotaur. Details of the mission will be given to us once we arrive in what is left of the voluminous Eridanus Star System. We are hoping for a peripheral patrol mission along with even a small period of respite. However, we are prepared for battle if the situation quickly turns volatile. As the age old idiom goes, Fortune Favors the Bold.
Chapter One: Call to Arms
"So what have we got on sensors?" asked Fleet Admiral Grif Simmons. After exiting their jump into Slipstream space, the SOT battle group quickly filed into a defensive, but calm formation. However, the admiral's stoic expression betrayed all sense of a halcyon spirit within him at the moment. He did not enjoy diving into a system without intelligence, and he was not about to set himself up for failure to what could be the beginning of a pivotal campaign. In fact, his animosity could literally be felt all over the bridge. He leaned forward against the back of the chair to get a better view of the display screen.
"Sensor reading coming in now, Sir. I think we have a potential contact out there, but it is hard to get a definitive analysis. It appears to be shielded by the planet," answered Ensign Jacob. The man was a new addition to the crew and replaced the late Lieutenant Anderson. The lieutenant's hedonistic ways cost the ship to be ambushed and was given a preemptive strike into the defenseless ship. The brevity of the battle soon changed into the SOT's favor, and the Covenant ship was soon destroyed. However, the mental scars were still with the admiral, and he was not about to let down his scrupulous and very stringent guard.
"Keep tabs on the anomaly. Where is the sensor relay? Prepare to copy the files and target weapons systems onto the station once the download is completed."
"Yes sir." The lieutenant's fingers dashed all over the screen, and found the relay station without any difficulty. However, he also stumbled upon the "ghosted" contact, and his blood pressure quickly skyrocketed. "Sir! I've found the ghost contact. Covenant destroyers, bearing 343 degrees, forward and port to us. It's making a dash for the station!"
"Where is it in relation to our position to the station? Weapons! Arm all weapons and prepare for a heavy MAC firing. Contact the Lance and Red Tail. Tell them to bring up our sides. Tell the rest of the fleet to bring up the flank. Move, men!" Ordered Admiral Simmons. Acknowledgements responded from three men working to bring the ship and fleet to combat alert. The lighting quickly changed and the engines started to vibrate differently than before. "Prepare sensor probes A1 through A7 and launch at the station. Copy the files and then send them to the ship. Weapons, once the files are downloaded into the probes, fire missile pods A through M at the station and missile rack 1 also. Set missile to high yield explosive. Range to the enemy fleet?"
"Fifteen million kilometers and in weapons range. Targeting MAC rounds at lead Covenant destroyer. Permission to fire?" asked Lieutenant Konrad. The man was very good at his station, and proved to be virtuoso in his field.
"Granted. Fire missile pods N through Z at the same target. Synchronize shot patterns to have the MACs impact first. Hopefully we can overwhelm their defenses and get all missile impacts. Fire!" The MAC rounds, which stood for Magnetic Accelerator Cannon, fired three successive shots at the lead destroyer. The MAC system was modeled from the Pillar of Autumn, and nearly a quarter of the ships in the fleet have received the upgrade so far. The MACs impacted into the ship, wiping the ship's shielding off while the second and third shot gored two holes into the ship from stem to stern. Then, 4680 missiles, about half of the maximum missile volley that could be launched from the ship, impacted and gutted the ship. With a flash of white, the ship was no more.
However, the last ship fired its plasma torpedoes at the station, completely ignoring the Battle Group. The shots struck home and the station was reduced into an ionized cloud. The two human destroyers unleashed all their weapons into the counterpart ship, and that ship too was obliterated.
Securing from battle stations, the crew were received a break. Simmons however checked the downloaded files. He ran the transfer rates and beginning time of launches from the Covenant, and realized just how much luck he ran into. Had the enemy ships launched their weapons three seconds sooner, the download would have not come in. Hopefully the rest of the mission will not run into any more skirmishes. The flagship was secured and let the graveyard shift come in. The crew was given a much-needed rest, and was given one. A wound up crew was useless. Too tight and someone will crack. Too loose and someone will drop his guard. Just right and the ship would run at optimum efficiency. Simmons wondered what the files contained, as they were beginning to be decrypted at this moment. He pondered this for a moment and fell to sleep.
The Spear of Tyr: Chapter 2
Date: 2 December 2003, 11:49 PM
Chapter 2: Battle Preparations
Fleet Admiral Grif Simmons looked up at his senior staff of officers in his quarters. He had important news to discuss, and he wanted his officers to hear it first. There was no need to bring it up when they arrived at their destination without his bridge knowing why they were recalled into port.
"Men, as you all know too well, we barely retrieved those files before the Covenant destroyed the sensor relay. We have decoded the files and our next mission takes us to the Tantalus System to receive the newest refit to the MAC system. As you all know, the MAC system is unusually largely built in this ship and was supposed to be completed along with the ship's trial run. However, the Spear of Tyr was rushed in the production line and the necessary adjustments were never made. We have the new schematics of the advanced weapons adjustments that will be implemented and I must say that I am between whether thinking that this is a very dangerous experiment or a very reliable weapon."
The Admiral surveyed the room, looking for any change of attitude in his officers' demeanors. Naturally, Lieutenant Konrad's interest perked upward and leaned forward, more attentive. "What new weapon system will be implemented?" he asked.
This question prompted Simmons to explain the schematics of the new MAC system. "As you know too well, Lieutenant, the MAC firing drive is much larger than what a standard MAC round is supposed to be fired from, by about seventy-five percent. The Spear of Tyr has a special Slipstream driver around the primary magnetic acceleration ladder intended to add a very large amount of velocity to the round. Coupled with the ability to recycle the energy for two more shots after the first round is fired, the ship will become even more formidable against the Covenant. We will also receive a new AI to handle the weapon upgrade and target multiple capital ships so that one salvo will not be overkill to one target. We are looking at the ability to fire at two different ships in the same salvo." He looked over his officer staff, and knew his words had struck home on all of them, particularly on the lieutenant. Konrad looked as if he was about to receive a new toy to experiment with, and Grif knew that he would put it to good use. That's all they needed right now: a big tactical edge against the Covenant.
"So, I want us to head over there as soon as possible. Strain the engines if any Covenant ships engage us must- there will be a small taskforce of ships to greet us there and provide cover for us shall we need it. They flagship of the Tantalus taskforce is the Algonquin itself, along with three Aegis classed Heavy Destroyer escorts. They were all that could be easily called for such a small escort. Be ready for combat, I do think the Covenant will try to intercept us. No one will miss the hole we'll tear in Slipstream. As of right now, we will be running at a slightly lowered Combat Status. You are dismissed."
The senior staff exited out of his quarters, and Admiral Simmons started to head out to the bridge himself.
* * * * * * * *
Nearing their destination, the Spear of Tyr did attract some attention. The Covenant taskforce responsible for patrolling this sector of space detected the taskforce and jumped into an intercept course. The S.O.T. taskforce also detected the Covenant, and sent a message to the Tantalus taskforce to run dark. Admiral Simmons was going to try to keep the Covenant's attention by running with weapons preheated and their energy signatures overwhelming the Covenant's sensors. The Tantalus taskforce was waiting for the Covenant and the S.O.T. taskforce while running only on battery. It would not last long, but if Admiral Simmons had set up the engagement correctly, the Covenant would essentially be caught with their pants down.
The Covenant taskforce consisted of two carriers, a single destroyer, and a lone escort frigate. The force was enough to overwhelm the S.O.T. taskforce by itself, but not two fleets. So the Covenant continued on towards the S.O.T. taskforce thinking that this would be an easy win and oblivious of the second fleet and their stellar grave.
* * * * * * * *
"Red alert! All hands: to battle posts! Raise the Combat Status- I want additional energy to MAC systems," ordered the admiral. They had detected the Covenant and soon sent a message to the Tantalus fleet. They were currently ten minutes away if they continue running at flank speed. It was not conventional procedure, but he had no intention to loose his surprise for the Covenant. After a few minutes, Ensign Jake broke the silence.
"Sir? Shall I drop out of Slipstream?" asked the helmsman.
"No. Steady as she goes. I have no intention to try to fight the Covenant alone. I am not going to loose this advantage." Simmons pondered for a second. How could he know if the Covenant knew about the Tantalus fleet or not? Should they go to battle stations? What if the Covenant ambushed the defenseless fleet? No. The Covenant did not show any signs of detecting the second fleet, so he would still go with the original plan. He looked at the countdown to the Tantalus Fleet. He had five minutes left. Perhaps he should drop out now and let out the Longswords and drones. The Heavy Missile Frigates would also release their missile corvettes, and those would prove to be useful. The missile corvettes were a new addition to the UNSC fleet. They had a carrying load of twenty cluster missiles, which held eight missiles each. Afterwards, the corvette could either stay outside and fire away with their guns against the enemy fighters, or could dock for a reload. Each Missile Frigate held thirty corvettes, which could put out a total of 18000 missiles by itself.
Admiral Simmons looked at the view screen again, and decided it was time.
"Ensign, drop out of Slipstream Space. Proceed at three quarters towards the Covenant. Ensign Jacob, notify the Tantalus Fleet and tell them that once they detect the Covenant's deceleration, go to Combat Alert and jump into the fray. Tell our Missile Frigate escorts to send out its corvette craft. Weapons, release safeties from all missile racks, get the Longswords out into the void behind us, and launch the remaining nuclear drones and place them further away from us than normal. Detonate them if any Covenant ships drop in right on top of them- we may score a hit against a shieldless enemy."
Several "Yes Sirs!" were heard and soon the lighting went to an even deeper red. Simmons could only pray for luck. They may have already ran out and time to pay their debt...
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