The Attack on Beta Forazunus
Posted By: Evan Kohler<kohlmanjr@yahoo.com>
Date: 24 February 2006, 1:12 am
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Captain Kohler was very nervous. When the Covenant had attacked Draco III they had come so close to being decimated. The Captain had rushed into battle in the Draco system. Right when he got there, a Plasma torpedo nailed his port side. 200 crew members were instantly vaporized 30 seconds into the battle. In the end the UNSC lost over twenty ships to the Covenant's eight. The Captain led the flagship, The Cardinal, at his station in the Beta Forazunus system on the inside of the Inner Colonies. Now The Cardinal wasn't something to be sneezed at. She was over 30 years old and designated as a Halcyon class cruiser. She was considered to be The Pillar of Autumn's sister ship. That meant she was brimmed to the teeth, but The Cardinal was even better. She had 5 Archer Missile columns with 10 rows on each side of her, but most amazing were her duel MAC guns. Each could fire three successive rounds and could reload and fire again in five minutes. She also had 3 HAVOK tactual Nukes. Now there were only twenty ships in and around the Beta Forazunus system. Even so, many ships passed through here to repair and refuel at the repair and refit station, The Crib. Plus, many ships are ready to jump at a moments notice into the system. There was a rumor running around the fleet that a Spartan was on-board one of the ships in the system. It was probably true. Spartans were spread everywhere that they could be used.
Beta Forazunus is not really a strategic planet, but it has over 30 million citizens. Captain Kohler was thinking hard, If the Covenant do attack, how will I defend such a huge planet? He was completely confident in his bridge crew. Manning the weapons console was Lieutenant Pritchett, he had nerves of steel and he loved blowing Covenant ships out of the sky.
On navigation was Ensign Watton, he could maneuver this bucket like a motorcyclist in a traffic jam.
Manning ops was Lieutenant Pargoff. He went with Pritchett to the academy and he was more experienced than anyone else on the bridge, except the Captain of course.
Finally, manning communications was Ensign Routledge. He was the least experienced, but he was an extremely qualified code breaker.
As they pulled out of the planet's shadow Ensign Routledge reported "Sir, Alpha priority transmission coming from Delta sensor outpost!"
United Nations Space Command Emergency Transmission
Date: April 24, 2552 (Military Calendar)
Encryption Code: Delta
Public Key: NA
Author(s): Ensign Darrel William (Service number 67840-90215), UNSC Delta Sensor Outpost
Subject: Slipstream Space Readings and Charts
Classification: NA
/start file/
Attention all UNSC ships in the Beta Forazunus and surrounding systems. My probes have detected at least twenty Covenant ships en route to the Beta Forazunus system. All ships are to initiate the Cole Protocol. Press Enter to continue.
Captain Kohler pressed enter. "Archimedes, please purge all databases and preset an escape route that complies with the Cole Protocol."
A ghostly figure popped up on the holo panel, he looked like a Greek scientist and he said "Yes sir, it is already done." Archimedes is the computer AI that is on The Cardinal. He is called a "dumb" AI, which is very misleading. All AI's are incredibly smart. "Dumb" AI's are just not able to operate outside preset perimeters.
"Thank you," said Captain Kohler. "Ensign Routledge, please send out an order to the fleet to meet at these coordinates. I have something up my sleeve."
Ensign Watton suddenly exclaimed "Sir! These coordinates will leave us inside the planet's magnetic field, which will affect the MAC rounds."
The Captain then said "I know Ensign, just let me work."
Lieutenant Pargoff then smoothly said "Sir, twenty-three Covenant ships are now in-system and coming right at us."
"OK people, let's get to work," said Captain Kohler. There was a very tense electricity in the air. Everyone was very nervous, especially the Captain. The only thing the Captain had to do was keep his crew in line. One way to do that was to not act nervous. One sense of nervousness and a bridge crew could fall apart.
Below decks Marines started to suit up and get ready for when the Covenant would invade the planet. The ship had over 1600 battle-hardened marines, 30 ODST "Helljumpers", 4 Scorpion tanks, 35 Warthogs, and 5 Pelicans. That was more than enough to keep the Covenant out of the ship. However, unknown even to the Captain, there was one Spartan aboard that was smuggled aboard by an ONI spook before the Captain boarded. He was ready to go planet side and kick the crap out of the Covenant.
The battle of Beta Forazunus II had just begun.
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