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      Apollo's voice suddenly broke the tense silence "Long range sensors detect inbound craft." The AI was programmed to operate the destroyer, all its functions from weapons to engines, but a threat of mutiny exceeded Apollo's program all together. Without taking his gaze off Barrows, Captain Roland told Ensign Seville who was still siding with her captain to investigate.
       "Captain, it's a Covenant cruiser, they're less than 100,000 km away from the Prophet Muhammad and look like they're preparing to make a jump into the system," she announced.
       "Captain, you can't take on these ships with the Isaac Brock alone," Barrows tried to sway the officer.
       "I'll draw them in," Roland argued. "And once they're in range I'll self destruct our two vessels, take the entire fleet down with me."
       "Captain," Yakasora's voice said weakly from the corner. "The sergeant's right, you have to go, save yourselves." The wounded officer groaned in pain. "Earth doesn't need dead heroes right now, sir."
      Roland suddenly saw the reality of himself standing there as he appeared to others, a madman with a gun committing the men and women under his command to their certain deaths. Unable to commit to that he slowly dropped his aim, neck, chest, waist until finally his pistol was aimed at the deck. The entire bridge breathed deep but Barrows' group didn't lower their weapons until the sergeant had done so. Roland was about to say something when a voice came over the communications system.
       "Enemy movement on the motion tracker, they're heading this way, twenty meters distance from my position," one of the marines on patrol declared through the comm. system.
       "All marines return to your posts," Lieutenant Hu ordered, and just like that the bridge took up defensive positions. Four marines stood guard at the outer barricades, and the rest fell back inside the bridge with the naval officers and crewmen behind the command centre emplacements.
      Noise echoed through the left hand corridor leading out of the bridge, loud footsteps approached. The two marines sent out on patrol ran through the barricaded position entirely out of breath before stopping in the rear of the bridge.
       "Ulsov, how many were there?" Hu addressed one of the returned marines.
       "Too many to count sir, and their coming right here."
       "The El-tee didn't ask for guess marine, he wanted a number," Barrows barked.
       "Maybe thirty sir," the second marine jumped to respond after being scowled by the NCO. "We could only get a few of their numbers before they got to close; we had to pull back before they got us sir."
       "All right, take your posts, and prepare to engage," the lieutenant ordered.
      Everyone in that room was at the breaking point, but each stood their ground. They were armed to the teeth, BR-55 rifles, shotguns, fragmentation grenades and a pair of recovered plasma rifles to add to it, but that couldn't ease the fear they all shared.
       "Distance Olsov?"
       "Sixteen meters."
      Everyone tightened their grips, Hudson slammed his magazine into its socket to double check it was secured, and Barrows leaned down and aimed through his battle rifle's sight.
       "Thirteen sir," the marine announced.
       "All right lock and load marines, they're just around the corner now."
       "Ten." Silence prevailed, no one moved a muscle. Some prayed, some said goodbye, Barrows only watched and waited.
       "Eight meters," the marine said with surprise. There was no fire being exchanged, eight meters distance from his position in the bridge meant they were only about five or six from the marines manning the outermost defenses.
       "Marine are you reading that thing right?" the lieutenant demanded.
       "Yes sir, seven meters right now."
       "I've got nothing up here," one of the marines in the forward defense announced.
       "Are they camouflaged elites?" A private questioned.
       "No the cloaking technology prevents us from picking them up," Barrows declared. "Hudson double check that reading."
      The private lowered his rifle and activated his own motion tracker. "I've got them Sarge. God there's a shitload of them. Five meters now."
       "Five meters. That's almost inside bridge," Hu declared in disbelief. "Kilburn you said they were right on your tails, did you even sight them?"
      The marine who had earlier revealed the number that faced them swallowed hard. "Sir we pulled out before we had them in sight, but they we're only ten meters away on the tracker, we needed to pull out."
       "They're all over the place, sir, all around us," Olsov exclaimed in panic.
       "The tracker's reading right, Sarge," Hudson declared as he dropped the device and grabbed his rifle again.
       "Where the hell are they?" A marine finally blurted out, he was scared and anxious all at the same time.
       "Stow that son," Barrows blasted.
      Roland moved his aim from left to right, he didn't see anything except marines and navy crew. Instinctively he knew the enemy was there until it struck him, he looked down and took a step back as though he could see through the deck itself.
       "They're in the deck below us," Roland declared loud enough that everyone on the bridge could hear.
       "Oh shit!" A marine exclaimed, but before a single person could move more than a foot from where they originally stood an explosion filled the air. Blue light erupted and metal deck plating sprayed in all directions. Everyone in the bridge shielded themselves from the flying debris but only an instant after the explosion plasma bolts erupted from the smoke. The deck had been breached between the two defensive positions, and the Covenant immediately sprayed all directions with fire. One marine in the forward position caught onto the threat too slowly and before he could jump to the other side of the barricade was struck down by a plasma bolt to the back of the head. The UNSC forces however by a lucky break had the enemy in a crossfire and as soon as an elite or grunt crawled through the deck it was met by a barrage of bullets.
      Another explosion sounded, this time behind the rear position just aft of the navigation console. Barrows turned to meet the threat and fired the remainder of his clip into the hole. Kilburn followed up with a grenade and a second explosion came from the same area but this time was met with an elite's growl.
      Then the Covenant blew another entry point this time right underneath the rear defensive position, the plasma from the explosion killed two marines instantly and shrapnel ripped away another's right leg. Screams and blood hurled into the air as well as the bodies of the two unfortunate marines. All three entrance points began to pour out Covenant soldiers, but the humans put a formidable resistance firing unceasingly at the enemy as they tried to crawl up.
      An elite's shield lit up as a pair of marines fired with full force, it climbed all the way out of the hole and opened fire on its attackers. The female marine dodged to the side but the other was bombarded by half a dozen shots and his entire body crumpled to the deck. Roland fired two shots to break the enemy shield then three more to stop the creature in its steps. Barrows in the meantime was confronted by a pair of jackals that using their shields as cover while they climbed up and now had a suppressing fire on the rear defensive position. Beside him Kilburn was shot and fell down beside him in pain, but together with Lieutenant Hu the first jackal was brought down with the combined fire and the second with a grenade.
      A scream filled the room as Crewman Callum was hit in the back and dropped facedown on the deck dead. A marine standing only a meter from the hole in the deck within the rear position turned away from the hole for an instant and spotted a pair of grunts. Armed with a plasma rifle he fired six bolts, the first two killed the one and also ignited the grunts methane tank blowing his partner up as well. The victory cost him his life though, as he looked away the enemy fired through the hole and struck him right in the side of the head.
      Hudson and Olsov seeing their position exposed moved over to cover the entrance. An elite reached up and wrapped its claws around the deck attempting to pull itself up. The privates fired a full magazine each and were able to break through its shield and just as it got fully up the last bursts knocked it back down through the deck to a hard impact below. Hudson tossed his last grenade below and three seconds later an explosion rocked the deck that he stood on. They both got closer and sprayed the entire area with bursts of bullets from their fresh clips. The enemy however didn't cower and replied with plasma. Olsov was struck in the armor and knocked off balance and fell forward through the deck. Hudson reached out to catch him but the abrupt stop in gunfire allowed an elite to reach up and grab the marine by the ankle. Hudson was pulled to the ground and could feel his very leg being broken by the creature's grip alone. He frantically reached out for something to grab a hold of.
       "Sarge!" He yelled at the top of his lungs in fear. Hudson grabbed hold of a barricade with one arm and tried to pull himself back but the elite had too strong a grip. Barrows saw his man being pulled below and ran to him. "Sarge help me, he's got my leg."
      The elite had dragged Hudson almost up to the waist below deck but Barrows dropped his battle rifle to the side and bent down to pull the private back. With his left arm he pulled and with his right Barrows used a pistol to shoot below. Hudson screamed in pain, they were tearing at his legs without mercy. Barrows tried with all his strength but the Covenant pulling his man were too strong, Hudson at the last moment reached up to his sergeant and grabbed a fragmentation grenade from his belt. Barrows fell backward as Hudson was pulled from him, but saw what he had taken with him, the sergeant grabbed his battle rifle and jumped away from the hole in the deck. A moment later body parts and blood erupted upwards through it.
      Behind him from the second of the Covenant's entry points two grunts crawled up flanked by a pair of elites. Lieutenant Hu, Ensign Seville and a navy tech were standing guard and fired on the enemy. The first few shots put down the grunts but it gave the elites their chance to take aim. Purple crystalline needles flew through the air and flew straight towards Hu. The marine dropped low and fired two bursts at the elites but the needles impacted and buried themselves into his helmet and chest armor. Both exploded simultaneously and the half lieutenant's skull was blown apart immediately. Seville managed to take down one of the elite's shields and score a kill shot, but was taken down by three successive plasma bolts which easily burned through her uniform and then her body. She collapsed unable to breathe as her lungs had been burned away. The young navy tech fired the last bullets in his clip but it wasn't enough to get through the shield he turned to run but before he could make it a step he was struck in the back of the head fell to the deck dead.
      The remaining elite out of the group of four moved on Barrows to attack him from behind and in all the confusion of the battle no one noticed its movement. Marines fired bursts of weapons fire; the enemy replied with plasma, soldiers on both sides fell wounded and dead. One marine collected a plasma grenade from a corpse and threw it at a jackal, the grenade stuck to it and as soon as it had realized what had happened it ran frantically towards its own commander. The explosion that ensued killed half a dozen Covenant in a instant. Ensign Jordan together with a female marine had caught an elite in a crossfire and soon brought it down as it howled in pain and anger. Three grunts spying easy targets at the other end of the bridge ran at the wounded. Only the navy corpsman there carried a weapon and too late did he see the threat. The grunts opened fire and killed the man without hesitation then began to fire at the wounded. Yakasora was hit in the chest and died instantly, the wounded marine from fire team Alpha tried to crawl away from his attackers only to be shot in the back. Wounded but still combat effective Private Wayne reached out and grabbed the fallen corpsman's weapon. He took aim and the little creatures which he could see to eye with from his sitting position. Three shot rang out, and the private killed two of them. He turned to take aim at the third but was struck dead in the face by a plasma bolt and fell over dead onto the still unconscious Kline beside him. The blood from his fatal wound spilled onto the only surviving casualty there and the grunt not noticing the difference didn't fire on Private Kline. Crewman Petrov battled hand to hand with a jackal both weaponless but fighting for their lives and both opposing forces so caught up in their own battles didn't intervene. Instead the two sides beat each other with bare fists.
      In all of this confusion and separate conflicts the elite edged closer to Barrows and took aim at the back of his head. The merciless enemy growl with pleasure and fired a single bolt. The bolt moved at near the speed of light but Captain Roland had a head start, he'd seen the elite take aim just barely, and jumped to intervene. In midair both the naval officer and plasma moved so quickly but from the perspective of the captain everything was in slow motion. He threw his arms out in front of him and propelled Barrows to the grounds but in the meantime the bolt struck Roland in the midsection burning through his uniform instantly. The captain doubled over in pain but he'd given Barrows the opportunity he needed. The sergeant rose to a knee and fired three bursts to knock out its shield and then a final one to finish it off for good. Barrows having dealt with the threat looked to Barrows who was bleeding heavily.
       "I'm fine sergeant," Roland declared with explosions overpowering his voice.
       "Stay put captain," Barrows said. "The Covenant don't seem to be attacking in as large a number but they're still here."
      And then the sergeant reloaded his battle rifle and reentered the fight shooting a jackal in the head when it was turned around attacking another marine. The enemy however no longer emerged from the deck below them and with each enemy that they killed allowed them to double up on another. One by one, grunts, jackals, and elites fell under the humans' combined gunfire until the last elite surrounded by a navy tech, Crewman Petrov, Ensign Jordan, and three marines including Sergeant Barrows fell.
      For a moment silence reigned once again, until the dull moans of the wounded prevailed. Private Kilburn and Captain Roland were on the deck wounded and it wasn't long before the reality of the situation sank in. Around them dozens of corpses were sprawled out, the bridge crew and a combination of four different marine squads all contributed to the bloodshed. Captain Roland forced himself to his feet and surveyed his bridge or what was left of it. Plasma scorches were all over just as with bullet holes. The majority of the consoles were damaged or completely destroyed, it was as if the battle from the previous day had occurred twice over.
       "Apollo, what's the ship status?" Roland asked weakly.
       "There has been no further reports of Covenant attacks on any marine positions Captain," the AI announced. "However there is a more important issue that should have your attention currently. Please refer to the tactical display."
      Roland was immediately intrigued, even under the threat of a fully operational Covenant vessels and three heavily damaged ones he didn't feel compelled to flee. The captain wiped the bluish blood of a Covenant soldier from the screen revealing the tactical map of the Sirius star system. The new enemy cruiser was there certainly and the weakened remains of the first fleet but there was something else in the system. In battle formation and fully armed was a massive UNSC carrier, two destroyers and a pair of corvettes. Admiral Krüger hadn't just come through for them; he'd done so in a very big way.

      The enemy was caught entirely off guard, as they rushed in system to destroy the wounded fleet they hadn't even charged plasma torpedoes. Overconfidence led them to believe they had time to toy with the ruined UNSC forces. Oppositely the UNSC fleet had emerged from slipspace with weapons armed and at the ready. The carrier Trygve Lie led the way. Although technically it was weaker armed then UNSC vessels with a cruiser designation a Mystic-class UNSC carrier was fifty percent larger then a Halycon class cruiser and formed much differently then the long, narrow design of most UNSC vessels. Shaped like a wedge a carrier had three large rectangular sections, each 1890 meters in length, protruding from the front of the primary superstructure all the way to the back. The carrier's rectangular pods were not an attractive looking component to the craft but each had its purpose. The port and starboard ones were the magnetic catapults used to accelerate the carrier's smaller craft to almost maximum thrust without using any of the ships propellant. The entire system worked similar to the MAC system installed on the Pillar of Autumn a single charge could launch three successive vessels with only a fraction of a second's distance between each vessel. The launch itself was a testament to the courage of each pilot as one wrong move could result in a collision killing the entire squadron. This risk was off-balanced by the rapid deployment that the system enabled. Each one of the carrier's catapults could launch six fighters each in only a minute. The enemy would quickly be overwhelmed by the size of the force that opposed them. The catapult system only took up the forward 500 meters of each protruding pod, the rear most sections were vacuum sealed and used a magnetic braking system which utilized stable magnetic and electric fields to apply a force decreasing the velocity of a landing craft. A Longsword could successfully land on the carrier while entering at nearly three-quarters of its maximum speed. As soon as it was back in the craft could either undergo immediate refueling and rearming and be moved right back into the catapult chamber to be launched again or put back into the storage racks. The middle chamber was also divided into two separate sections. The rear most area was essentially the size of Marathon class cruiser except entirely hallowed out and it contained only a set of massive cargo and storage bays. It was here that the carrier's entire fighter and transport compliment was stored, each of these bays were conveniently connected to the catapults by direct passageways large enough for any craft that the vessel carried. A Longsword squadron could be removed from its storage racks, loaded onto the hydraulic system of movers and be in the catapult ready for launch in only ten minutes at peek operation. Forward of the single ship storage bays was the bulk of the command area of the vessel. The bridge, observation area, some crew quarters and one of the cryogenic storage bays. The rest of the ship's operational areas including engineering, armories, medical bays, and others were spread within the wedge shaped superstructure of the carrier. At the back of the carrier three enormous engines were spaced together between the two receiving areas for the spacecraft landing on the ship. A UNSC carrier's armament was comparatively light to other craft, it sported only fifty more centimeters of Titanium-A armor then a standard destroyer, and the entrance and exit points along the ship's exterior for single craft were clear targets for enemies since they weren't armored nearly as much as the remainder of the superstructure. Thirty-eight oversized Archer missile pods decorated the ship's hull as well and could provide a hailstorm of guided missiles on command. 50 mm point defense guns were just as numerous and below the command area on the hull was the craft's single heavy MAC cannon. In a complete package the carrier was a formidable vessel and only recently had command of such a vessel fallen to an officer ranked lower than admiral or a captain with a flag admiral onboard. The fall of Reach left many empty seats that used to be filled by admirals so command fell to the next echelon to fill some spots.
      Named for the first secretary-general of the United Nation the carrier made an imposing figure within the system and immediately put four squadrons of Longsword interceptors into the black before it's two destroyer escorts could even get into battle formation. Ho Chi Minh, and Horn were of the same class as the Isaac Brock and Prophet Muhammad. Together they fired a pair of MAC rounds each before even getting into battle formation. Each hit home on the slow moving enemy carrier and punctured the hull straight through; it wasn't a moment later the massive Covenant carrier was consumed by an explosion from within itself. The newly arrived CCS cruiser immediately turned its maneuvering thrusters to address the new threat. The damaged Covenant frigate and cruiser attempted to do the same but were hampered by their own damaged systems and the UNSC attack. The small corvettes were only three meters longer then half the length of a Renaissance-class frigate and didn't sport a heavy MAC system because of their size but had an abundance of firepower and speed nevertheless. With the fastest sublight speed in the fleet excluding, patrol cutters and prowlers, a corvette could keep up with enemy Seraphs and still take a great deal of damage before losing its operational capabilities. Complete with ten Archer missile pods, a full point defense system, and a Moray space mine launcher the corvette was a Seraph's worst enemy and could under circumstances take on a capital ship. Five years earlier at the Battle of Algerus half a dozen corvettes faced a Covenant carrier alone. The corvettes faced a vessel twice their combined size. Yet as the enemy launched Seraphs the corvettes quickly dispatched them, and the carrier had to resort to plasma torpedoes and pulse lasers. A Shiva warhead was launched and successfully brought down the enemy shield. All the corvettes orbited the enemy carrier at full speed taking shots as they went slowly breaking through the enemy defenses. Plasma torpedoes were ineffective at that close range and would have more likely hit the carrier itself while pulse lasers could hit the corvettes only three quarters of the time and weren't the one-hit kills. Eventually the corvettes wore the enemy down until finally faced with capture the carrier self destructed at the loss of only two corvettes. None of the corvettes present at the Sirius system were veterans of that battle but they both carried the same fighting spirit. The Ottoman and Crusader led the Longswords into battle against the wounded remains of the first Covenant fleet. Together they deployed a payload of missiles equal to that of a cruiser and peppered the hull of the enemy cruiser with even more damage. While the Longswords dealt with the weakened frigate the two corvettes challenged the cruiser, but it was a one sided battle, despite being out classed in each instance the enemy was damaged and operated at perhaps only 25% efficiency. It would have been more then enough to completely obliterate the Isaac Brock, Waterloo, Prophet Muhammad and Confidence but the reinforcements were a completely different story. The frigate fired pulse lasers erratically but it had two dozen Longswords maneuvering and making strafing runs around it. The cruiser fired lasers as well and even attempted to charge a plasma torpedo but in its attempts to maneuver ran into a series of Moray mines the Crusader had deployed. Ten meters of its starboard side detonated then crumbled of the rest of the superstructure.

      The fully armed and operational Covenant cruiser fared no better, as it charged three torpedoes it was struck by five MAC rounds followed immediately after by three hundred Archer missiles. The heavy rounds were enough to break through the shield and then drove five separate holes into the hull across the ship's port side. The missiles that followed enjoyed free reign on the enemy hull now with the enemy shield down. The high explosives ripped apart the colorful armor that covered the superstructure and rocked the entire vessel based on the sheer number that impacted. In the process one of the enemy torpedo turrets was destroyed leaving it with just two to launched which they did once the bolts were their familiar flaming blood red. On the bridge of the Trygve Lie Commodore Minnelli watched as the bolts erupted from the side of his target. He knew they were aimed for him, but he wasn't about to flinch. The older man was a veteran of too many battles with the Covenant to count. He didn't fear death. Together with his marine captain he stood undaunted watching the viewscreen within his large oval bridge. The massive carrier rumbled forward with the two destroyers running a few hundred meters in front on the catapult ports to protect the carrier's vital sections. With the torpedoes only seconds away and more charging the UNSC vessels launched their second salvo of MAC rounds and missiles. The plasma torpedoes grew ever closer and were on a trajectory to destroy the two destroyers. The Horn saw the torpedo coming but remained on course, chatter filled UNSC frequencies, then it struck. The plasma burned through the forward armor like it wasn't there, explosive decompressions rocked the ship. The bottom decks on the vessel were melted away and its MAC cannons were reduced to molten slag. The torpedo didn't reach the engines however and the destroyer maintained its vector. The second torpedo changed it course at the last moment and was directed to the opening on the carrier exposed on the side. It burned through the port corner of the wedge superstructure boiling away the armor right through and from one end to the other. From above the carrier's normally pointed edge was now blunt as the entire portion of the outer hull ten meters deep burned off from the remainder of the vessel. The damage was superficial to such a titanic vessel though and it too went on moving with a MAC charge almost at one hundred percent even before the enemy's torpedoes were half ready.
      The Covenant fired pulse lasers to try and slow the enemy down, especially the wounded Horn which appeared to be on the course to ram the enemy like its namesake. The five MAC rounds found their mark for a second time and without the shield back up went through one side of the ship right through the other. Entire sections of the cruiser were ripped through or ruined by rapid decompressions. The missiles that followed only made things worse and sent the vessel into a debilitating clockwise spin. Although it was obvious what the Horn intended to do her captain announced it through the communications channel anyway. Personnel ordered of the ship began to launch off life pods and the Pelicans from the ship's bay. The destroyer then put full speed to engines and began to rumble past the Ho Chi Minh and Trygve Lie. The two vessels in the rear fired their MAC cannons sending a triplet of heavy rounds at the spinning cruiser. The Covenant seeing the charging destroyer immediately abandoned everything else in order to stop that vessel. All power from charging the second torpedo was diverted to the first and all its pulse lasers opened fire. Around half the surviving crew and marine compliment was still on board the Horn when the enemy torpedo launched. A final broadcast went throughout the ship wide channel to abandon ship before it was struck by a burning ball of plasma for the second time. This time though the vessel was consumed by it. From stem to stern no amount of decompression could save the vessel. The plasma reached the reactor and the Horn burst into a nuclear fireball sending debris throughout the void. There was no time for the Covenant to celebrate however and their victory was bittersweet, the three MAC rounds struck the still spinning vessel and the forces of motion from the MAC rounds and the vessel itself tore the ship in half. Only twenty seconds after destroying the UNSC vessel the cruiser erupted in sporadic flames.

      Captain Roland took his eyes off the TAC display at long last, but still could not believe his eyes. It was hard to wrap the numbers around his mind, two Covenant frigates, three cruisers, and a carrier all destroyed in a single engagement. All for only the cost of a frigate, destroyer and less than half a dozen heavily damaged but salvageable vessels. He looked around the bridge at the men and women that remained the survivors of one of the worst battles Roland had ever seen with his own eyes. By some miracle they were still alive, and maybe if the battle had shown something they could still make a difference. Reach was gone, and Earth was the next target but Roland had seen victory, real victory was possible. It took sacrifice, but it wasn't blind, the Covenant could be bested in space just as they could on the ground. His small fleet possessed nothing other then stone cold Titanium-A, MAC rounds, and a single trick up their sleeve yet the tables were turned on the Covenant and for the second time in only two months the Covenant were on the wrong side of a one sided battle. A little bit of magnetic interference from a star, a natural random anomaly made the difference against a foe that possessed technology that was generations ahead of what his people had. If something that small could bring victory then there was hope.
       "Captain, we should really get you to medical," Ensign Jordan declared amongst the cheers and celebration on the bridge.
       "Just give me a moment ensign," Roland replied. He was overcome by the moment and needed a second still to take it all in. The pain he suffered had disappeared and if it was only temporary he intended to savor it while it lasted.

      Sergeant Barrows scanned the bridge or what remained of it to be more correct. He was careful to watch where he stepped as corpses were all over both human and alien. It was just another battlefield to the NCO though, just like dozens before it. In a few months he would say farewell to the battlefield for good though. No more blood, plasma and bullets flying, just training young ones to take his place or sitting in an office knowing that they were out there fighting still. That was unacceptable, he saw that day that he was still needed out there, on the battlefield. And not just him, everyone was needed. Young kids like Ensign Jordan or Private Wayne who in the face of combat and certain death knew their duty. Men like Private Hudson who wouldn't go down without a fight were needed just as much as a man who fled for cover when the fighting grew too intense. Marines, navy techs, and officers all had a tough job, but when it came down to it each and every one made a difference in the war. So Barrows wasn't ready for a desk job, he knew he was made for the battlefield, it was where he was needed.

      As the UNSC forces in the Sirius system began to come together, and the Bastille repair station received the signal to return all began to fall into place. Life pods were rescued, lists were made of the dead and wounded, and repairs began. All within the tiny corner of the universe everyone was busily at work as well as one other, hidden among the darkness he sat watching, just as he'd done that entire day. He was First Lieutenant Theodore Richmond, a member of the Office of Naval Intelligence's Section Three. He sat at the controls of his sleek prowler speaking with its AI ensuring that the last of the data was collected and properly documented. He considered his mission critical to the safety of humanity, or so he was expected to, his orders came straight from ONI command, and Admiral Dreadford back at Earth. So he marked the last of the sensor readings he'd taken from the battle, and then entered a quick pair of commands into the console and unbeknownst to anyone in the system the black colored vessel slipped out of the system en route to the Sol system.

Hope everyone who was able to stick it for long enough to read the whole story/series enjoyed it. This won't be last you've heard from the UNSC Isaac Brock, however the next few chapters are going to take a very different tone then these past few

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