Page 41 (1/2)

UNSC Everest

Preston J Cole

COPY TO: LOGISTICSOFFICE, NAVCOM, REACH

OFFICE OFNAVALINTELLIGENCE, SECTION-III, REACH

0915 APRIL 18, 2543 (MILITARY CALENDAR) \ UNSC CRUISER

EVEREST\ FLAGSHIP BATTLE GROUP INDIA \ PSI SERPENTIS SYSTEM

THE BATTLE OF PSI SERPENTIS{AI RECREATION BASED ON

VIDEO, AUDIO, AND SENSOR LOGS--BLACK BOX RECORDERS--AND

EYEWITNESS ACCOUNTS}

When Battle Group India transitioned into norest assembly of UNSC forces: thirteen cruisers, twenty-three carriers, seventy-nine destroyers, forty-two frigates, five prowlers--and fifty supply, repair, and rescue vessels (those latter ships reement)

The wake from the massive transition into normal space sent a ripple outward fronetic spectruated from their location three million kilometers above the planetary plane of Psi Serpentis

It made auroras sparkle over the nearest three planets It caused a visible shift in the siant with thirteen tih to crush and fuse the hydrogen churning in its at Covenant ships on the far side of the systenal to the enemy

The Covenant ships appeared on radar like a swaranic silhouettes registered--CPV destroyers, light cruisers, and the hitherto unseen in battle CCS-class battle cruiser

Their prows collectively turned toward Battle Group India, lateral plas hulls so it looked as if an entire alien fleet eht of hand

The UNSC prowler Wink of an Eye , having been in syste for this moment, moved into its proper position and reappeared, only visible because its active ca red and orange surface of Viperidae behind itthe prowler sent a radar ping to the UNSC forces to verify its position, and then the Wink flash transitioned into slipstreauidance beacons

Battle Group India one by one moved into slipstrea been done a week previously by Cole himself

And the entire fleet then reappeared two seconds later, one hundred thousand kiloas giant blocked the eney, however, was not perfect--especially over short intersysteravity wells A dozen UNSC ships reappeared, scattered froled toward the stragglers and accelerated to attack speed

Cole‘s fleet split into tings, both using the gravity of the gas giant to slingshot around either side of the planet--and toward the onrushing enemy armada

In response, the Covenant fleet also split to track each portion of the UNSC forces on either side of the Viperidae

The starboard wing of the UNSC fleet, however, shifted its orbital burn--arced up and over the gas giant and angled back to ine cones flaring with the power from overloaded reactors, the human ships reunited and rocketed toward the port-side breach in the Covenant line

A dozen nuclear-tipped Shiva ing forces, and detonated harle enemy vessel

But as the Covenant loosed their plasas fro them ineffective

Just as the Covenant fleet canetic accelerator cannon range

A dozen MAC slugs struck the leading Covenant ships--iy shields, punched through hulls, penetrated through and through, and sent thirty-seven of the alien CPV-class destroyers careening through space

As the two forces closed, however, a cloud of nuclear fire no longer protected the UNSC vessels, and plas into titaniu reactors

Archer e to fill the space with flash and detonations, but this did little to stop the ene into a Covenant battle cruiser--their hulls splintered and the entire ulfed in a blob of plasma

As the fleets sped past one another, the UNSC ships fired thrusters, spun about one hundred eighty degrees, and launched Archerplasma weaponry

The Covenant had lost statistically ement with the UNSC

Twenty-three alien ships of the line now drifted in space inert or burning from within as their reactors overloaded and vented plasma

But Battle Group India had lost more than a third of her ships, and nearly every one of those that had survived was now scoured and pitted or had decks breached--

With one noticeable exception: Everest , which had led the charge, e of the Covenant armada that had been out in place as the UNSC fleet had doneslowingand then pursuing Cole‘s ships

Swarms of Archer missiles fired from Battle Group India Their MAC systems had yet to recycle for another shot The UNSC ships scattered,blossom--

--as the second wave of Covenant vessels opened fire

The UNSC destroyer Agincourt charged headlong into concentrated strea itself to save her sister ships

And still the alien fleet picked off a dozen more human vessels

Both sides were now scattered across the systeht up with those now in pursuit The huiant, accelerating and keeping just out of effective range of the eneht have escaped, and yet the UNSC ships collectively slowed to allow the Covenant fleet to gain a tiny bit--as both groups of ships sped around Viperidae

The Covenant aras giant

As they eed in hot pursuit of Battle Group India they saw brilliant blue flashes of Cherenkov radiation, the result of multiple slipstream transitions into normal space

A new fleet of hu on an interceptor trajectory toward the aliens

Fifty-five ships--highlywith ns that neither hued into the center of the Covenant fleet and opened fire

MAC slugs tore into the enemy vessels as they accelerated toward one another Plas iant in proximity Ships collided and scraped hulls, and a dozen craft fro clouds of Viperidae‘s upper atmosphere and perished

Then the two forces flashed past one anotherand the Covenant eed, their forces decith

The insurgent-led forces had lost one-quarter of their nuht, however

They continued on their trajectory out of the Psi Serpentis syste blue flashes, they transitioned back into slipstream space

Cole‘s fleet had altered course into a high parabolic orbit, turning toward the ene with superconductive sparks of power--aimed directly at what remained of the Covenant fleet

A ain rippled as new slipspace ruptures appearedthreeand a dozena hundredthen a fleet of more than two hundred Covenant ships appeared in nor toward Viperidae

The UNSC ships continued a full ten seconds on their current course, firing neither weapons nor engines

COM traffic from Everest was on a secure and scrambled channel--private, for admirals to captains only--that was then deleted by a viral worm

The channel closed and the UNSC fleetEverest alone to face the eneines flared and she slipped deeper toward the gas giant Her MACs powered down and every external light went off All her missile silo doors, however, opened

The mass of the fresh Covenant ar Battle Group India

COM CHANNEL (BROADBAND ALPHA-THETA) from UNSC Everest : ― Listen to me,

Covenant I aship, Everest You clailorious inheritors of the universe? I spit on your so-called holiness You dare judge us unfit? After I have personally sent lorious ships to hell?

After kicking your collective butts off Harvest--not once--but twice? From where I sit, we are the worthy inheritors You think otherwise, you can co"

The Covenant fleet, both daed vessels and fresh reinforcements, turned to EverestSome ships rushed toward her position, while others skirted around the Viperidae--cutting off any possible escape vector

Everest tightened its orbit and vanished froiant

She did not slingshot out as she had done on previous occasions, but rather e the trajectory so low, the cruiser could never recover fro at Covenant ships fired

A hundred plasetbut spiraled about theas giant

Laser fire followed fro Everest with a thousand sh, leaked from the ship, as every outer deck had already been evacuated

COM CHANNEL (BROADBAND ALPHA-THETA) frohed ― Watch what one unworthy hu she had

Archerwith a dozen Shiva nuclear warheads--while another hundred Shivaclouds