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Mother of All Battles: First Battle for Oceana
Posted By: Andres<andres_vera2000@yahoo.com>
Date: 10 May 2005, 8:25 AM
Read/Post Comments
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"We have met the enemy and they are ours..."
Oliver Hazard Perry
1613h, January 19, 2563 (UNSC Military Calendar)
Lira Omega System, UNSC Inner Colony Control Space.
Joint Forces Command, Omega Prime.
The scattered reports that came from the system were incomplete, wrong or plainly unreliable depending on the sources. In the darkened room no one was standing still, only the Marshal who calmly stared a the large, blue screen. All the activity was generated by a hopefully wrong report from a spook ship in the Oceana Planetary chain. Marshal Bodanenko grabbed a tissue from his jacket pocket and wiped his forehead to dry the sweet. A Commodore approached him from his right and saluted and Bodanenko saluted back.
"It's confirmed sir," every voice in the room, every action and every emotion died. "Ocean four has been glassed."
The Marshal sobbed and gasps of sadness were heard slightly on the room, "How many souls?"
"Three hundred million," said the Commodore, he looked away to hide his sadness.
The Marshal stood and walked between the consoles of the Officers to the large display in the center of the room; he turned to face an old admiral, the Fleet Commander. "I'm activating WARPLAN Orange."
Fifteen minutes Later.
Fleet Command and Control Station.
ONI's briefing was, in a way, useless. Their annalists were trying to find a reasonable reason why the Covenant had invaded a planet instead of a glassing. Generally a Covenant land invasion had only one target, the use of ground troops to destroy the planet based defenses and aircraft that may oppose the attacks, yet it was weird since the Covenant had neutralized the defenses of the planet and system that they had held the planet. Or at least that was the thought of ONI.
"So in conclusion we think that the Covenant will use this planetary chain as their main "lock" (Line of Communications) for further actions in the system," said the Commander of ONI in the System, a good General.
"I agree," answered the Fleet Commander.
"Roger," said Air Ops.
"I think is a load of crap," said Bodanenko even though Tactically and Strategically it was the logical conclusion. "Don't you see it?" The men and woman in the conference room looked at each other in disbelief, or more accurately doubtfully. "They are using it as bait," said Bodanenko with arrogance and seriousness.
"How so?" said partially offended the ONI chief.
"They know how sneaky we are," he stood and began to walk around the conference table. "They will keep the planetary chain for one reason only," he stopped and stared into the eyes of the commander of the Naval Intelligence. "To glass one by one, to make the people suffer in it," he exhaled loud enough for everyone to hear. "To piss us off," the Marshal said with no particular feeling. "And they will glass every planet there, one by one until we attack them, in force, with the whole fleet," the Generals and Admirals got more comfortable on their chairs.
"Now," he said more calmly, "we have already reported the Central Command at Earth and they are dispatching reinforcements," the Marshal sat down on his chair again. "Now we will hit them aliens hard, do but on our own ground," he smiled and punched the table so hard the all the cups and glasses poured their contents on the table. "Right here on Omega with all our guns and missiles orbiting the planet."
Jaws dropped, what the Marshal just said contradicted everything the UNSC called doctrine. One admiral began to speak but he was immediately interrupted. "What is the composition of the Covenant fleet," the chief of intelligence did not move, he just sat at his chair.
"We estimate that there are a total of sixty two ships on station by the Oceana Star, don't know how many are operational since planetary defenses worked very good. We are scanning their transmissions and we have come across some interesting information, their Capital ship is called Thunderous Justice, a symbol of the Covenant as far as we know."
"Ok," said the Marshal with an uncharacteristic smile. "That is our target," he leaned on the table. "This is my plan," when he finished explaining the bold, better, crazy plan all officer's jaws dropped.
1425, January 19, 2563 (UNSC Military Calendar)
Lira Omega System, UNSC Inner Colony Controlled Space
Fleet Rally point Baker
UNSC Carrier class Hurricane Tsunami
Commodore Diana Gutierrez took a long, detailed, look at the ships on the black void, counting twenty ships total; two Hurricane carriers, six light cruisers, two heavy cruisers, eight destroyers and two supply ships.
At Electronic Emissions Control the ship headed to their IP, a thick asteroid field by a small, ghost planet. She heard the slow footsteps that crept upon her back, "Ma'am, transmission incoming from Fleet Command."
"Aye," she said without turning around. She launched another scrutinizing look at her fleet, turned around and walked through the red lightened room to the COM station in the Combat Information Station in the ships bridge; in a small console on a poorly illuminated corner a Petty Officer waited for her. "Ma'am," began the Petty Officer. "It would seem by the transmissions I'm intercepting that the fleet is preparing for something big."
"How so?" she asked and took a meticulous look at the Sailor.
"From what I can interpret in all the transmissions," he grunted, and turned his chair to face the console. "Fleet Expeditionary Force One and Two are coming into the system, which can only mean one thing."
"Counterattack," she whispered. "What is the transmission from FLEETCOM?"
"It's for your eyes only," he tapped some commands onto his console. "I'm sending it to your office."
Diana sat on the chair and booted her computer, the message was already there, a very large file indicating only one thing, a very complex strategy. She slowly began to read the contents. "Now that requires some balls," the battle plan was unbelievable bold and to some eyes, crazy. At the bottom of the message was a signature.
Marshal Andryid Domanenko, Commander UNSC fourth sector.
Odd.
She enabled the intercom, "Captain, get underway to Oceana asteroid field. I'll be on the bridge in five mikes."
1448h, January 19, 2563 (UNSC Military Calendar)
Lira Omega System, UNSC Inner Colony Control Space
Humanity Class Cruiser NGC-1 Enterprise
Heading to Oceana Star
"So, this is what they want us to do," Rossini entered the hologram, disrupting some of the beautiful artificial planets and stars. He grabbed his pen and drew a line from the ships position to the star of Oceana, in orbit around a moon of Lira Prime, the closest planet to the Ocean chain.
"We are to get to the Star and hide on its orbit until phase one of the Operation is complete," for the officers it seemed simple enough. "Wait until the Fleet draws the main body of the fleet away," he made circle around the largest ship. "And hammer this ship and bug out," he slowly exited the Hologram. "This sucker witch name is Thunderous Justice according to ONI, its supposed to be a symbol for the four chinners," the faces of the officers in the room darkened. "It's going to be fine as long as we don't have to take the whole pack on."
1648h, January 19, 2563 (UNSC Military Calendar)
Lira Omega System, UNSC Inner Colony Control Space
SFS-11456 "Pirates", Gold Flight. Oceana Planetary chain.
The sixteen Daggers space superiority aircrafts maneuvered behind the meteor, a hard thing to do since the visibility was hindered by the blue gasses and the constant harassments by rocks and debris. Like a hunter camouflaged they waited to make their move, they would be the first of the humans to take on the Covenant in Lira Omega.
"Romeo, Romeo oh Romeo," called the controller on the Carrier Tsunami behind the static. That was the cue, for all he knew the Operation had begun.
"Break away!" screamed Lieutenant Commander Red "Eater" Mackenzie. The sixteen fighters enabled their afterburners and went vertical, leaving the tail of the flaming rock and onto the clear, black space. "Go active," he ordered to his weapons officer.
The powerful radar ignited and swept the space ahead them. In all the darkness were ten blips unseen to the naked eye, the radar signature indicated one thing, Covenant Seraphs. Ten teardrops flew in a wedge formation unaware of what was coming to them, a full volley of smoke and explosives.
"Homeplate, Bull lead, confirmed. Bandit, bandit, ready to engage," called red on the COM as he activated his weapons.
"Roger Bull lead, bandit, bandit, engage," answered someone over the radio behind static distorting his voice.
"You heard him," he informed the flight. "Cleared hot, sort bandits," he keyed off the COM. He turned around to face his copilot; though his face was hidden behind the stubby Head Mounted Display he knew the man and could read his movements and expressions. He was scared to hell, and he could not blame him, Seraphs were awful enemies. "Just get me a target Joe, I'll do the rest."
The copilot did a slight nod and his job speedily.
A long, digital Beep informed that the missiles already had a target designated.
He keyed the COM on the throttle stick. "Press," he waited for the acknowledgement from his flight. "Fox three!" barked all the pilots nearly at unison.
The bomb bay opened and four long missiles fell onto the space, white contrails streaked away from the aircrafts and onto the Covenant formation. The Seraphs had no time to react, and they had only two options, to wait for the missiles to hit and hope the shields deflect them or simply engage the humans and hope to doge the missiles. Covenant Elites where impulsive and what they would do what for the humans was not obvious, their shields disappeared and blue torpedoes formed on their noses.
"Music on!" screamed the copilot before the loud alarms indicating a radar lock came on the cockpit.
The training took over; he hammered the throttles and ignited the emergency booster. The copilot pressed a button on his panel and bright chaffs left the aircrafts stern. "Vampire at six o' clock, minus thirty degrees and closing in straight, break right!" The pilot slammed the joystick right until his fighter was ninety degrees vertical; he then pulled the joystick towards him and the fighter turned away from the plasma torpedo.
Collision Alert, Collision Alert, said the computer in a cold tone that did not show the danger the pilot faced. A friendly fighter almost struck him as they both passed dangerously close in the chaos as the fighters attempted to avoid the incoming plasma, the turbulence generated by the close flyby made the craft shake violently.
There were several yellow glows, like if they were flying close to a star, in the cockpit as detonations appeared in the pitch black space somewhere around the Dagger fighter. The forty missiles from the Daggers swarmed the formation of Seraphs, several glows on the glass and cockpit indicated that several detonations had taken place. "Bandits hit! All members check in!"
Slowly every aircraft crew checked in, except six. He leveled the aircraft directly into the wreckages of the Seraphs. "I have no bandits active sir," said his Copilot. In the space a trash field was formed by the Seraphs. His mission had been successful and now the UNSC had a breach in the Covenant scout net around the system, the Fleet now would counterattack Oceana.
"Zulu, Zulu, Zulu," he called over the COM. On his radar display two hundred UNSC fighters appeared and so the first battle for the Lira Omega System would take place.
"Zulu, Zulu, Zulu," reported the pilot leading the interception of the Combat air Patrol on the edge of the Oceana chain, it was now the job of his bombers to attack the Covenant troopships orbiting Ocean Prime.
"All flights this is Strike lead, hammer your throttles!" the seemingly empty space by the small and slow piece of rock lit up in a red cloud of afterburners. The strike package of two hundred Longswords and Space Fortress bombers was under the Command of the legendary Colonel Ron "Duke" Cunningham and he was the only man with no fear in the flight.
Duke switched the COM on. "All flights this is strike lead, go cold," the red cloud again disappeared, only the black void was to be seen. Now every electronic emission was gone. And now the first the battle for the Oceana chain would take place.
2001h, January 19, 2563 (UNSC Military Calendar)
Lira Omega System, UNSC Inner Colony Control Space
Near Highway West
"C'mon babe, you can do it," the efforts were to no use. The bike simply could no go any further, it was badly damaged. The Major sighed, but it was not all bad news, for what he could gather he was a bare two hundred meters from the Pelican.
The now associated with dead roar of a Seraph passed right over him, it disappeared behind the trees and the sky lit up in a yellow blast in the direction of the Pelican's LZ.
"Fuck," said the disappointed Major. He collapsed on the chair of the bike, "Now I'm screwed."
As he began to calm down he caught a glimpse of three figures coming down his way to his right. They were tall and armed with long weapons; it could only be one thing. His worst fear, Elites. He dropped to the ground in time to avoid the radioactive shells that passed over him.
He left his gear on the bike and ran away through the parry to the closest cover, the forest on his right. He ran for two hundred meters with the radioactive shells smearing past him, he stepped on something, a root most likely. He stumbled for a couple of passes and collapsed.
Frank upholstered his sidearm as the unbelievable fast Elites approached his position, they slowed down and began to surround the Major position in the tall grass. The held as two new suns appeared on the sky. The ranking Elite screamed and as quickly as they appeared they left.
The Major exhaled in relief, he then looked at his salvation in the far away sky. It was clear that those explosions were not of a human vessel, the blue flames were of a Covenant ship. And that was a large relieve, but he still had something to do. Save his family, and the only man who could do it was himself.
2001, January 19, 2563 (UNSC Military Calendar)
Lira Omega System, UNSC Inner Colony Controlled Space
Fleet Rally point Baker
UNSC Carrier class Hurricane Tsunami
"This is strike lead, bulls eye, bulls eye, shack on the target!" Celebrations followed on the Combat Information Station of the carrier, and there was reason for it. The sneak attack was successful, not something that usually happened when UNSC fighters infiltrated Covenant held space and destroyed a small flotilla. Two troopships had been evaporated by the massive package of bombers, but all were not good news, two thirds of the bombers were gone, a good attrition rate all together.
"Ma'am," called the COM officer. From her position on the bridge she looked at the young officer manning the radio set, "they are going berserk." God how she wanted a hologram, she approached the radar display and stared at the green dots that began to maneuver on the space, she was joined by another man. "The Covies are moving, two cruisers are on intercept course on the retreating aircrafts," the fleet Air Operations Officer told her what she already knew. "Ma'am Covenant transmissions have gone berserk, for what I can interpret they are worried by how the bombers snuck up on 'em," he looked at her. "They are moving some serious numbers."
"COM, contact Command, tell them the bluff worked," she smiled.
2009h, January 19, 2563 (UNSC Military Calendar)
Lira Omega System, UNSC Inner Colony Control Space
Humanity Class Cruiser NGC-1 Enterprise
On Orbit in the Oceana Star
The sweet soaked his uniform, the heat so near the star was so intense that a few man had fainted. But it was for a good reason, they could not be detected in the orbit of the star; the infiltration to their current location had been problematic, they had come dangerously close to a Covenant frigate, only god knew why they were not detected.
Now the less effective but less power using low resolution cameras partially portrayed the Ocean planetary chain. It must have been nice in there, thought Rossini except on the farther of the planets, now a red pile of flames and glass, which angered ever crewmember. "Con, COM. I have a burst transmission inbound," reported the communications officer in the deck bellow.
"Aye, on my way," the Captain stood on his chair and slowly moved to the ramp to the right, the red light made it hard to see so carefulness was not unnecessary.
He made his way down to the lower deck and onto the corridor; he made a right turn and found the COM station, a small cubicle buried in the wall. "Sir," the Lieutenant was waiting for him. "The interference generated by the star is a problem but we have it figured out," said the Lieutenant proudly.
"My guys are great," he tapped a button on his console and the message appeared on the screen. The captain carefully read through the message, his lips moved a little as he deciphered the fragments, he sighed. "Oh my god it actually worked," the Captain smiled and walked down the red corridor onto the radar and weapons station.
"Ok men, how is the firing solution coming?" he asked the crew of five men working parallel to each other on a console, in front of them two large screen displayed all the data they needed to see, a display of the electronic spectrum and a slight infrared image. The papers and trash on the ground around them was a testimony on their hard work, notes and equations were written on them. The ranking man turned to face him, "it's rough but it will be on target, sir." He sighed and dried his forehead with his forearm, "unless they change postion unexpectedly it's a sure hit."
All of the calculations they had made were based on passive systems such as infrared and radar warning devices. The Captain trusted the men in that they were right, he nodded, a small congratulatory gesture, and slowly made his way to the command chair to prepare to the battle.
"Helm, come right bearing one-niner-three by elevation two-seven-zero," he inhaled. "Prepare to fire," the Captain calmly barked as he sat watching the screen, the low resolution image gave him a small picture of the Covenant formation. It was easy for now.
It only took a couple of seconds for the Helm to achieve the desired bearing, "steady on course one-niner-three by elevation two-seven-zero, Aye sir."
"Weapons, con. Report on the Status on the MAC?"
"All four Magnetic Accelerator Cannons are at one hundred per cent stretch, Heavy Explosive Armor Piercing rounds are in the chambers. Firing solutions have already been uploaded onto the ballistic computer and all systems are nominal," the Officer inhaled. "Ready to fire," like a cold stone the weapons officer reported.
"Very well," the Captain took a long sip from his coffee. "Lock on designated firing solutions and shoot!" all the crewman heard how the metallic sounds banged every room of the vessel. On the large display a timer appeared, since there was no way to track the shots with passive systems so a basic formula was used to estimate the time of the flight of the shells. He would wait after the massive shells struck the target to go active.
"Weapons, Con. Reload light rounds this time prepare to calculate a new firing solution based on active tracking."
"Light rounds, aye sir," acknowledged the Weapons officer. "Five, four, three," he counted the timer and the Captain found himself silently repeating that to himself. "Terminal and... target!"
Several sparks and flames, appeared as the Depleted Uranium shells disintegrated against the shields and hopefully the hull of the Covenant vessel.
"Reactor to one hundred percent capacity," he felt the movement behind him as the Hologram reappeared together with the loud sounds of the generators coming online. Now the high resolution cameras were activated and the target was fully in view, the ship was still there, gutted from port to starboard, a perfect shot but not enough. "Maneuver, con. All ahead one quarter, keep her steady," he sighed tiredly. "Radar, Con. Lock on target and upload ballistic solution."
"All ahead flank, aye sir," responded his officer.
"Con, radar, two groups. One eight ships, designated Charlie one thru eight," on the main screen several tags displaying the ships data. "Group two, designated Charlie eight thru fifty six, all heading away it seems that the bluff worked." The Captain was relieved, it was ok now.
"Con, COM. Enemy communications had gone berserk, the Thunderous Justice is calling for help and its not aware of the origin of the shells."
"Status of the MACs?" the captain rested on his right thumb and index finger. "Loaded!" screamed the weapons officer so loud that the intercom was not necessary.
"Lock designated fire solutions and fire!" the metallic sound of the Magnetic coils resonated through the ship as the shells left the muzzles.
"Damn, if they have sonar they will pick us up in no time," said the battle officer who caused a chuckle on the Captain.
"Radar, lock on the target with all the Longbow missiles batteries that are ready to fire between Alpha and Mike, fire at will."
Two seconds passed before the thucks of the missiles going away reverberated the hull. "Any transients?" asked the Captain.
"Nay sir, seems the MAC rounds took out the ship's ECM suit out," said with a sense of joy the Electronic Warfare Officer. The Captain slightly punched his armrest. "Right full rudder Helm," he relaxed on the chair and smiled. For what he knew the Covenant had not detected them.
"Shouldn't we wait for confirmation of the impacts?" asked his Tactical Battle Officer, Sarah.
"I don't want to stay that long around here, and for it seems the bastard is crippled, if the shells fail the missiles will do her," he said calmly.
1425, January 19, 2563 (UNSC Military Calendar)
Lira Omega System, UNSC Inner Colony Controlled Space
Fleet Rally point Baker
UNSC Carrier class Hurricane Tsunami
She watched closely the radar display; the Covenant had gone berserk after the loss of their capital ship and she loved it, as soon as the large green dot turned to pieces celebrations filled every compartment of the ship. The Covenant were relentless, they would finish the Longwords off with small group, only fifteen ships were coming to the asteroid field.
They had no idea what was coming in their way. Originally a group of forty ships was after the Longswords but the surprise attack had caused panic on the fleet.
The Marshal was a bum, but he was also a brilliant strategist, his plan was going crystal. The fifteen green dots slowly came to where she had hoped they would come, a large kill zone her fleet was ready to blast.
"Beautiful," she whispered with a slight smile. "Ok," she left the radar display and onto the digital map in the center of the red room. "I want the fleet to concentrate on this point," she placed her index finger on a point just outside the kill zone. "Prepare the ship to move out of the asteroid field," she grinned. "We are taking the shit straight to their face."
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