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Aurora Squadron-Part 4
Posted By: RogueFox<admiral_d_68@hotmail.com>
Date: 11 January 2004, 4:28 AM


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1650 hours, April 20, 2553. (Military Calendar)/ UNSC carrier Hornet in position with UNSC Fleet, Sol system, Earth.

Dear God, thought Captain Adams, it's come to this. The Hornet had returned to Earth with the Master Chief's warning about the Covenant knowing the location of Sol. HighCom instantly reacted. Section III had been developing a battleship-class of vessel, because of the Hornet's report of the Covenant's development of one. HighCom accelerated it, and they now had 5 battleships in orbit around Earth, the North Dakota, Iowa, New Jersey, Alabama, and North Carolina. The battleships had 6 MAC guns on its port and starboard sides, and 2 in the front. The UNSC had 40 Super MACs in orbit around Earth. The UNSC had giant stations dedicated for fighter bases. They had 10 of those statons, 50 fighters on each. The Pillar of Autumn's reactor-type was installed on all UNSC vessels, and carriers had CAGs of 60 fighters. (Hornet had taken on a substantial amount of fighters from Task Force III when the Covenant ambushed them at Beta Edrinari V. All the frigates and the two other carriers were destroyed, so Hornet took on all the Longswords.) 300 ships were stationed at Earth, the other 100 and 20 Super MACs were assigned to Mars. Mars was vital to Earth as well. All the Inner Colonies and Outer Colonies were gone. If a human being was outside the Sol system, he was in a ship. No planets outside that system were habitable. Adams shook his head. The UNSC, once spanning thousands of star systems, is reduced to the Sol system. An alien race, for no reason, wiped humanity off the galaxy, all the way back to their homeworld. Hornet was assigned to 1st Fleet, 2nd Task Force, 5th Group. The fleet at Mars would race to Earth if the Covenant bypassed that world. Adams sighed. These were probably the last days of humanity. He walked off to go get some sleep in his room. The Covenant could strike at any time.

Aurora Leader, Lt. Cmdr. O'Malley, walked across the bay and threw a socket wrench at the wall. He had seen hundreds of worlds glassed. Billions die. And now, the Covenant was here, knocking on Earth's door. The UNSC had no place else to go. All the planets of the Sol system were bloated with refugees from the Colonies that had been devestated. Aurora Squadron was part of Hornet's CAG, which was part of the 5th Wing's Air Group. There were over 1,000 fighters in Earth's orbit. Most, however, were the C709s, not their variants. The variants were very effective on the capital ships, but the C709s left a great deal to be desired. O'Malley looked at the squadron, sleeping in the pilot's lounge, because they had to be ready to go 24/7. He looked to his left and saw the blinking green light that indicated an incoming COM. He looked at the origin. "REMOTE SENSING STATION YORK, SOL SYSTEM." "Son of a ..." O'Malley muttered.

1750 hours, April 20, 2553. (Military Calendar)/Remote Sensing Station York on Sol System's Edge.

Chief Roberts looked at the screen. No question. At least 500 Covenant ships. Inbound to Earth. The chief fought back tears. Earth was going to fall. His home. Humanity's homeworld was going to be ripped to shreds by the Covenant. The Chief regained control. There was something he had to do. 5 Covenant frigates dropped out of the Slipstream and moved towards his station. He turned and activated the auto-destruct sequence. The last thing the chief ever did was flip the Covenant ships the bird.

1800 hours, April 20, 2553. (Military Calendar)/UNSC 1st Fleet in Earth orbit.

Admiral Greer on the battleship Iowa opened a channel to the entire fleet. "People, the Covenant are here. They have beaten us all the way to our homeworld. They have destroyed our colonies. They have beaten us repeatedly and pushed us. They attack, and we fall back. They attack again, and we fall back. No further! The line must be drawn HERE!This is not some backwater colony! This is Earth!Humanity's homeworld! Defend it with your lives! Greer out.

Captain Adams watched as 500 hundred Covenant ships drop out of Slipspace. The Super MACs turned and aimed towards the enemy fleet. "Attention. Launch all fighters." a computer voice said. "Rogue, you heard it. Launch." Adams said. "Yes sir." the AI replied.

O'Malley throttled up and led the C709-E in with the rest of the 5,000 fighters. "OK, listen up." Commander Powell said. "C709s and C709-Cs, run interference. Everyone else, we're taking out the battleships closest to Earth." The fighters split apart. 600 of the fighters split off to intercept Seraph-class fighters. The other 400 lined up on the nearest battleship. "Bs! Fire Shivas now!" 25 Shiva missiles streaked for the battleship. "MACs! Now!" The -Es and the -Bs fired their MACs. "Archers! Now!" The 400 fighters released a swarm of missiles and broke. "All fighters, break and attack! There are too many capital ships exchanging fire! Attack the fighters!" said a controller. O'Malley looked up in time to see a giant MAC round streak towards a Covenant crusier. He glanced towards the battleship in time to see it go white from nukes. The battleship had a huge hole chewed in the side of it, and the MACs sailed right in, followed by the Archer missiles. The Covenant battleship exploded, taking two destroyer escorts with it. Aurora Squadron banked to port and lined up on a Seraph group. "Aurora Two, take Five and go after those two strafing Hornet! Three and Four, let's take these guys!" O'Malley barked. The COM clicked Affirmative. Lowe and McCafferty peeled off. Toland and Edwards formed on O'Malley. Aurora Leader sighted up a Seraph. The computer made a beeping tone as it sought a missile lock and became solid when it had one. O'Malley let an Archer go and let loose a hail of 70mm bullets. The bullets pinged away at the shield as it overloaded, and the missile slammed into the fighter, destroying it. Toland and Edwards took care of the other 3 in the same manner. O'Malley glanced up at the two fleets locked in deadly combat.

Admiral Greer's Iowa turned its portside to face the Covenant and fired its 6 MACs. The MACs blew apart a Covenant battleship that returned the favor on 3 UNSC destroyers. The Covenant were pushing in system, but were beaten back by the tenacious UNSC fleet and the Super MACs. The Covenant failed to consider the 100 ships stationed at Mars coming in to assist in the defense of Earth.

Captain Wilkinson led the 2nd Fleet of the UNSC in to combat the Covenant attacking Earth. The Covenant Slipspace technologies had been adapted to the human drives, and they were about to use them. The 2nd Fleet charged up their drives, and zipped into the Slipstream to save Earth...

To Be Continued...





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