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Task Force 168 by Blue Jaguar
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Task Force 168: The Silent Justice-Chapter One
Date: 11 December 2003, 11:41 PM
CHAPTER ONE
April 11, 2547 0648 Zulu Time 168th Task Force, Lambda Draconis system
"Fire second salvo, now!" Captain Moss of the UNSC destroyer Royal Sovereign yelled, just before his ship launched a second volley at the Covenant corvette.
"Captain, enemy ship appears to be prepping for slipstream!"
"All right, I want all longsword fighters to engage the ship immediately, order them to target the engines, we aren't going to let this guy escape."
"Aye captain, longswords are engaging."
Through the main control console, the Longsword fighters could be seen swarming the aft end of the injured Covenant corvette. The ship didn't stand much of a chance in the first place, it had apparently been caught off guard as it was patrolling the Lambda Draconis star system. The 168th Task Force had managed to hide from the Corvette as it approached them, and then sprung out from the asteroid belt inside the system, and heavily damage the corvette before it could do any damage in return, much less fire a shot.
"Sir, enemy's engines have been disabled, she's dead in the water."
"All right, recall the fighters, we wait for orders."
A few seconds later, Rear Admiral Tajin's face appeared on the main view screen.
"All ships, prepare boarding parties, we're taking this one alive if we can."
His face disappeared, and the map of the star system took his place.
"Ok, order 1st and 2nd battalion on board the Pelicans, 3rd battalion is staying on board in case anything happens."
"Aye sir, marines are deploying."
The main view screen zoomed in towards the Royal Sovereign and the ships around her. Captain Moss watched as the other ships, the destroyer Royal Oak(Royal Sovereigns sister ship), frigates Repulse, Renown, and Revenge, as well as the light carrier Invincible launched their boarding parties. 7 Full battalions were en-route to the stricken corvette, although only 2 would board. 2 More were there in case reinforcements were needed, another two to repair the ship, and the last one to man the ship after it was captured.
"Sir, first boarding party has docked."
The main screen once again zoomed in to the corvette. Dots representing UNSC marines could be seen moving around in a pattern as they boarded the craft. Moss switched through the com frequencies until he found the one the marines were using.
"So where did everyone go? They run away or what?" A voice said through the radio.
"CONTACT CONTACT!" Said another.
"Christ rookie! You don't need to go ballistic, its just a fuckin grunt!"
"Private! Shut the hell up! Pay attention and stay sharp!" Said a commanding voice.
"Aye sergeant!"
"Ok, 1st squad move forward, 2nd squad, secure the CIC, while 3rd squad goes to the hangar and secures it for more reinforcements. Move out marines!"
On the display screen, the 1st platoon to land separated into three groups and began to head in separate groups. The first one began moving forward in the ship, securing more hatches for the other groups, while the other two headed aft, one towards the CIC, and the other for the ships hangar.
"1st squad, meeting moderate resistance, mostly grunts though."
"Roger, keep pushing forward, if you run into heavy shit, pull back to nearest hatch and wait for reinforcements."
"Roger, 1st squad out."
By now the other pelicans had begun docking with the corvette, and two more platoons joined the fight.
"Sergeant Rezekne, this is Lieutenant Wallace, I'll be in charge now. I want you to take two squads and move to secure the bridge, 3rd Platoon will assist in moving aft."
"Aye sir, ok marines, lets catch up, double-time!"
More marines began moving forward, and before long, nearly the entire ship was swarming with marines. The marines moved swiftly through the ship, but as they neared the CIC, their progress slowed to a halt. Barely any ground was being made, as the majority of the troops had been placed inside the CIC, to wait there so that they might have the best chance of beating the humans.
"All right, most of the ship is secure, but we are meeting a lot of resistance in the CIC, so I want 3rd platoon to continue securing the forward half of the ship, while 1st and 2nd set up a perimeter around the CIC, they don't have unlimited food and supplies, so we can wait them out."
After a few minutes, the perimeter could easily be seen by anyone looking at the view screen, each hallway was blocked by a squad of marines, no way off the ship now.
"Captain, we intercepted a Covenant broadcast from that corvette, they are still in control of the comm network."
"What?! What is it?"
"We have decrypted most of it, 'CSS Silent Justice requesting immediate assistance, under attack from UNSC task force.' Sounds like they are telling on us."
"Shit." Moss switched on the comm set. "Lieutenant Wallace, Covenant are still broadcasting comm messages from inside the CIC, take them out now, or we will be in a serious shit storm."
"Roger that, MARINES! Engage at will!"
Many marines died as they charged forward into the enemy lines onboard the ship, but the CIC was quickly over run. At least 7 marines were dead, and nearly 15 wounded, just from that attack alone. 13 had died taking the ship, and 24 wounded. Not bad considering they were the only casualties of the battle, but they of course, would always prefer to have zero.
"Lieutenant Wallace to Admiral Tajin, Silent Justice is secure, repair forces may now board."
"Nice work Lieutenant, bring your boys back for debriefing."
"Roger, Wallace out."
April 16, 2547 1307 Zulu Time Lambda Draconis System
"So what do you plan to do with the ship?" Captain Moss asked his superior, Admiral Tajin.
"I'm not sure, probably take all valuable items and information, then scrap it."
"I was wondering if maybe we should add it to the fleet."
"I thought about that too, but we know Covenant light arms weapons have somewhat severe side-affects. I can't imagine what putting a crew onboard that thing would cause. If not properly protected, they could be dead within a week."
"Oh...I forgot about that." Moss muttered.
"Just a minor detail eh?"
"I'd like to think so."
"Anyways, I am worried that the Covenant may be alerted to our presence in this system, that's why I have decided we are going to leave this system, and proceed to the Tau Ceti system."
"Sir, if they have a probe in the system, they will be alerted to our leaving, we could run the risk of bringing them right to earth's back door."
"Yes, but I doubt the Covenant will think we are dumb enough to bring them closer to earth, besides, Tau Ceti is completely abandoned, they won't believe that we'd have star systems sitting empty like that in the centre of our hegemony."
"There still is a risk sir." Captain Moss warned.
"Yes I am aware, I was placed in this position because someone high up deemed we worthy, if I didn't think this would work I wouldn't try it."
"All right sir. What time do we leave?"
"1400 hours."
"Today?"
"Yes, be there or be square." Tajin said jokingly.
"What about Silent Justice?"
"We are leaving her here, we might come back later and pick her up when we aren't quite so busy."
"Aye aye sir."
Moss climbed out of Admiral Moss' quarters and headed back for the hangar. On his way back to his ship he thought about the consequences of bringing the Covenant to Earth could have, of course, the Covenant might not even have a probe here in the first place, but wherever there was a Covenant ship, there was probably some more watching.
April 16, 2547 1359 Zulu Time Lambda Draconis System
"All hands stand by to enter slipstream." The Royal Sovereigns' AI, Fisher, announced through the intercom.
The ship entered slipstream, and all non-essential personnel went to the cryo-chambers.
"Something worrying you captain?" Fisher said, as Moss strapped into his seat on the bridge.
"I'm afraid that by fleeing to Tau Ceti we may end up allowing earth to be discovered."
"I see...Well you know that the Covenant may not even have a probe, as you suggest they might in this system."
"Yes I am aware, but that is a very bad gamble to take on something priceless."
"Maybe, but there is serious doubt on your proposal."
"Yes, but still, I don't think it is the best idea."
Moss sat in his chair, listening to the hum coming from all the electronics on the bridge. After some time, the image of Fisher disappeared from the main view screen. Moss sat in his chair thinking for a while, but soon succumbed to the desire to sleep.
Task Force 168: The Silent Justice-Chapter Two
Date: 17 December 2003, 5:48 AM
CHAPTER TWO
April 17, 2547 1942 Zulu Time en-route to Tau Ceti
Captain Moss sat in his chair, strapped down so that he would not find himself floating in air through the bridge. The bridge was almost completely empty now, other than for the chief communications and navigation officers. Most everyone else was in cryo-stasis, which is probably where he should be, but he hated having to cough up that crap they put in him.
"Message from the Invincible sir." The comms officer reported.
"On screen."
On the main view screen the message appeared. "Rear Admiral Tajin to all ships, four hours until arrival at destination. Empty cryo-stasis in three hours and begin combat ready checks."
"What is our O2 status?"
"37% sir, we've got plenty." The Comm officer replied.
"All right, in three hours, send message to cryo bay and tell them to begin thawing our people out."
"Aye sir."
Moss unstrapped himself from his seat and pushed towards the bridge door. There wasn't much to do for now, so he wanted to get his last few hours of sleep in before the probably battle began. Besides, sleeping was his hobby.
April 17, 2547 2339 Zulu Time en-route to Tau Ceti
"Exiting slipstream in five, four, three, two, one."
Moss watched as the space around him flashed back to real space.
"Begin scanning area for Covies."
"Aye sir already on it."
Moss looked at the main screen. On it was the scanner, he watched as it sweeped back and forth through space, showing many targets, but were quickly identified as either planets, or asteroids.
"Nothing sir."
"All right, wait for instructions."
After a few minutes of waiting, their orders appeared on the main screen: Enter Low orbit over Tau Ceti Three and run silent.
"All right, break for orbit, make sure you have an accurate fix on the planets atmosphere, I don't care to burn to death in this tin can."
"Aye sir."
April 19, 2547 0639 Zulu Time Tau Ceti System
"I am sure sir, we decrypted it several times, each time we have the same result."
"And you checked with our maps? This map is accurate?"
"Yes sir, 100% accurate, Earth, they may not know that it is earth, but they are aware that there is an extremely important planet in the Sol system." The Intelligence officer said, which seemed to greatly disturb Tajin.
"Well it looks like we are heading back." Tajin replied.
"Hopefully they don't know what has happened, or havent sent ships to investigate."
"In either case, we are going, that ship must be destroyed."
Tajin left the CIC and walked down the hallway towards the marine barracks. He managed to catch Lieutenant Wallace just as he was leaving his office.
"Lieutenant Wallace." Tajin said.
Wallace spun around, he saluted and then replied. "Yes sir."
"I need to know right now, when you left the Silent Justice, were there communications working?"
"No sir they weren't, short range and long range comms were both inoperable, and to my knowledge, they would require quite a bit of work to fix. Is something wrong?"
"Yes, we have just learned the Silent Justice had info on the location of earth, we are going back, you will lead the strike team and blow the ship."
Wallace stood still for a few moments, completely shocked.
"You mean...that they know?"
"Did I stutter?"
"N-no sir."
"All right, get your marines ready for cryo-stasis, we will be arriving back in the Lambda Draconis system in 40 hours."
"Aye sir!"
April 20, 2547 2251 Zulu Time Lambda Draconis System
"Contact sir, enemy ship bearing one-eight-five mark zero one, they're right behind us sir!." The Sensors operator onboard the Invincible reported.
"What is the ship tiype and distance?" Tajin responded.
"Enemy Frigate sir, range.....two hundred and seventy thousand kilometres."
"All right, launch all fighters, have them intercept anything the frigate sends at us. Then have our fleet turn about and face the ship once the range opens to three hundred thousand."
"Aye sir, longswords are launching now."
The Invincibles Longsword fighters joined up with the fighters from the rest of the fleet, and began to head towards the Covenant frigate. The enemy ship had fielded fourty Seraph fighters, but they were no match for the 140 human longswords.
"This is Colonel Otena, engaging enemy fighters."
"Roger Otena, the enemy frigate is closing in towards you, make it quick or they will be right on top of your fighters."
"Roger."
On the CIC's main screen, the fighters were shown fighting the Covenant Seraphs. Half of the Seraphs were destroyed by long range missiles, and the remaining twenty were being wiped out by the one hundred and fourteen longswords that still survived.
"Admiral, range to enemy frigate is three hundred thousand kilometres."
"Good, bring the fleet about and lock in firing solutions. Bring us to the rear of the fleet, with the Royal Oak and Sovereign leading the way."
"Aye sir, moving now."
The entire fleet pulled a u-turn and headed back directly at the Covenant Frigate. As both ships came into range, the human ships prepared to fire. The Covenant frigate however, did something totally unexpected. Rather than face certain destruction, it jumped into slipstream and fled the system.
"Damnit!" Tajin yelled.
"Sir, no other contacts detected, shall we stand down?" One of the bridge officers asked.
"All right, stand down, where is our package?"
"....Its gone sir, must have escaped while the frigate had our attention."
Tajin slammed his hand down onto the arm rest of his chair. The soft cushion muffled the sound, so that almost no one on the bridge heard.
"Admiral, the marines bugged the ship during the raid, the Covenant may not be aware that they are in place, and with communications down, they may have no way to contact the rest of the fleet."
"How long till you locate the ship?"
"Well sir, we'll have to wait until she drops out of slipstream, or we could jump into slipstream and take a look, but if we are headed the wrong way, we could end up days behind her."
"All right. Well we can't stay here, hell knows when the rest of their fleet shows up. Send a message to Reach telling them of the situation, once it is sent, we are heading to the Harvest system, if the Covenant struck there first, then hopefully it is the closest place to their homeworlds, and could cut down the journey considerably when we do find that ship."
"Aye sir, sending message."
A few minutes later the entire squadron had loaded back up their fighters, and was in slipstream headed towards Harvest.
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