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Homeward Bound - Part one: Unprepared
Posted By: M.Laine<firelode@hotmail.com>
Date: 27 September 2006, 8:23 pm
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Close to the colony planet Reach a small number of battle scarred vessels hang in the vacuum. Fires burn on the ships, metal is contorted, twisted and broken. People bleed and scream and do the best they can to put out of their minds that right now their colony might be burning too, they deal with the injured the dead and the dying and they pray that above all things they will have a home to return to.
A lone destroyer sits amongst a gaggle of smaller ships. Large, angular and imposing it bears the worst scars and the most visible loss of life. Decks ripped open from bow to stern along its' starboard side reveal eerily empty rooms and barely pressurized airlocks damaged from further combat.
Onboard this testament to the savagery of space warfare, the most senior officer in what remains of the taskforce is requesting orders.
"……impossible to predict. Minor fleet engagements around Reach have already been staged to strategically lure Covenant forces away from Earth-bound vectors. The Homeward bound, with frigate escorts is to be the last major diversionary force placed on a previously heavy usage shipping lane." Admiral Thennals' voice sounded tired.
"Your mission as commander of what remains of the third fleet, eighth taskforce, Reach Space Defence Force is to engage and retreat from Covenant forces, stretching their armada thin enough that strike groups from the UNSC field fleet can terminate targets of opportunity, their primary target is the Covenant carrier: Keystone of Faith."
Captain Cassius William Locke sat back his body was not at ease despite his real leather custom made comfortably upholstered chair. His head hurt from an open wound above his right eye and his face and uniform were dirty from smoke, oil, ash and blood.
Hours ago Cassius had been sitting comfortably in extended tactical orbit over Reach, his home. Naval Intelligence was shaking up the sentry roster and the Homeward bounds' taskforce had been placed on early warning duty should the unthinkable occur and an enemy contact be confirmed near Reach.
The funny think about the unthinkable is that it's only good if nobody plans otherwise, the Covenant had; a slip-space rupture so immense in size as to momentarily confuse the Homeward bounds' sensor cluster opened and then came the ships, hundreds of them. The taskforce, cut-off in seconds with communications jammed fought valiantly while third fleet scrambled to form and engage. Eventually the surviving ships were ordered to disengage and run, the Homeward bound broke from the fighting and jumped to rally point delta, only a handful of frigates, the smallest of all capital ships, managed to follow.
Escaping with his life Cassius had expected to be ordered to the nearest dry dock, his ship needed repairs and his crew were battered and shocked by the stunning enemy surprise attack. Locke was determined to go home and repair the damage the Covenant had wrought on the taskforce not re-engage the enemy.
"Sir with all due respect my ship is on the verge of collapse. A fifth of my crew are dead, half are seriously injured and many need treatment that in a few days my medical supplies won't be able to cater for. I've lost a third of my ship to ship weapons, half my fighter and bomber wings and my chief engineer assures me that our engine capacity won't be above seventy percent without a full refit." The pressure of command and the horrors of war became present in his strained voice.
"You're asking us to chase the enemy crippled and demoralised and engage the same force that just destroyed ninety percent of the taskforce, killing Admiral Mehasi and destroying the flagship, an assault carrier, Bastion of Hope. We need to return to Reach and re-arm; we are in no position to…" Suddenly it clicked in one horrifying second Cassius knew, they hadn't repelled the Covenant fleet, third fleet, Reach, it was in their hands now. The pause was long as the Admiral waited for Cassius' heavy breathing and thoughts to settle.
"Captain there are developments at Reach that you are not aware of the Covenant fleet has already taken orbit over the planet however many enemy ships have been drawn away and are now pursuing several decoys as we speak.
"What ships are left are now in low orbit around Reach and will not have time to engage you directly however there is a picket line with a destroyer and the Keystone on station just beyond Reach's gravity well." The Admiral paused while Cassius made clear with his silence that he was stunned, he didn't want to know what the Covenant had done to his planet, to his beautiful wife.
"You are to destroy the picket, and lure the destroyers away from Reach to an ambush point where the cruiser Iliad's' Wings and the destroyer Gargants Grace and their combined frigate escorts will join you in terminating the enemy ships."
Cassius pushed the worst of his thoughts aside, he told himself: 'I am an officer in the United Nations Space Corp, my crew need me. Anyone alive on Reach will need me.' Cassius thought over the Admirals orders carefully while staving off his myriad questions about the state of his home.
Covenant ships had always been faster than human ships if enemy reinforcements were called in then a numerically fair fight might ensue, one that would almost certainly end in the total destruction of every human vessel.
"Sir, neither my ship nor any other ship in this fleet is combat effective. We'll be able to lure the carrier but unless reinforcement is prompt……"
"Captain Locke, I assure you that reinforcements will be there as soon as you call for them." The silence was deafening for both men. One tired wounded and alone the other desperately trying to prevent the inevitable, the fall of Earth. Cassius sighed deeply; Earth was why everyone was fighting, human and Covenant alike.
"I'll rally the fleet and engage the enemy as ordered, can I have your word that after this sortie taskforce eight will be allowed to return to Earth for a refit, repairs and re-crewing?" There was a silence on the other end of the line.
"Captain after this mission taskforce eight is to stand down and prepare to crew various UNSC field ships, the Homeward bound and other third fleet ships are to be dismantled and their assets reprioritised."
"You're dismantling the taskforce and third fleet? Sir, we do need repairs and crew but we can still be a combat effective asset to the UNSC field fleet." Cassius couldn't believe third fleet was going to be split up after all they'd been through. He didn't imagine many of the ships would be left but some would have, there were rally points all across the system. Their fate was to survive and evade only to be torn apart as salvage.
"We would be a valuable force in the fight to retake Reach an……..." The Admiral didn't even have to say anything his lack of confirmation made it all too clear.
"There isn't going to be an operation to retake Reach is there Admiral?" Cassius felt his stomach turn over and beyond all rational impulses he wanted to scream.
"I'm sorry Captain." The Admiral was apologetic, his voice even and careful like an officer telling parents that their child had died. "Intelligence indicates that the Covenant fleet made successive sweeps of Reach with tens of thousands of kilotons of nuclear ordnance. As far as we can tell, no-one survived beyond the initial evacuation."
For the first time in what seemed like days Captain Locke relaxed, letting his chair support him, hold him, like a boy being coddled by his mother. Billions were now dead and the taskforce had run from destruction, withdrawing to allow reinforcements to arrive.
"W-what about the defences, t-the MAC guns should have been able to hold them for a while……" It was a lie, seven hundred enemy ships had pounced on Reach and third fleet had been caught unprepared, the defences would have lasted against a smaller fleet but one of such enormous dimensions overwhelmed the taskforce, Reach would have lasted longer but they were just another target, not really a threat.
The Admiral cleared his throat. "Several other colonies have faced similar cleansing, your taskforce allowed third fleet to rally and stand their ground and the evacuation was well under way before the Covenant managed to break the defensive perimeter. You saved………"
"DON'T……no defeat is a victory no matter how you paint it. We failed. They died. We survived, which leaves us with the mission at hand, when do you want the taskforce to sortie against the enemy?" Cassius had always been ready to die for his planet, his family and friends, even before he joined up, now he had no such heroic illusions, his duty is what he had to perform, everything else could wait.
The Admiral quietly marvelled at Cassius' strength, he had expected to be dealing with a distraught man a husband not a naval officer, not after this. "We need you on the line at nineteen hundred hours."
Cassius nodded gently. "I'll inform the crew of the news and prepare the fleet."
"Thank you captain." There was a short pause as the Admiral considered his next sentence. "Cassius, my condolences, Lisa was a good woman."
Cassius' emotional control froze he could see Lisa's face as clear as the first day they met. He closed his eyes tightly salt water however still crept slowly from his tear ducts cleaning his dirty cheeks. She was really gone.
"I know, I'll inform you when we're ready, Locke out." Cassius hit the button quickly, his voice broken into fragments of random pitch and tone. His hand trembled as he retracted it from the switch. He sat forward in his chair looking for a handle on the situation, a way to react. Nothing had prepared him for this. Death had always been a danger for him but he had never envisioned being left behind, alone, scarred and beaten.
Now there was just the mission, just the job, one last order before even the fleet was gone, taken from him. His whole life, everything he had ever fought for, lived for, killed for almost fucking died for was gone. Parents, home his old school, his city, brother, nephews and nieces and Lisa, his wife, all gone. Not even ashes remained not even the landscape they once stood on would be the same, all gone.
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