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Halo: First Contact

Chapter 5: Confrontation I

Fox stared out of the observation window in wonder as the huge fleet of alien ships coasted in the black void of space. Most every single one of them he currently saw was larger than a cornerian battleship. These humans built strange ships. Cornerian vessels were wide and colorful; while the human vessels were long, stocky and colored in grey monochrome. Despite their unappealing and plain appearance, they were quite obviously very dangerous and not to be underestimated. A few of them had massive barrels protruding from the center of their prows. Fox was curious as to what the weapons were, what was their function? Just by their sheer size he knew they were nothing to laugh at, these humans definitely meant business.

Further along in the vulpine's observation he picked out a multitude of wedge-shaped fighters flying in standard patrol patterns in-between the hulking vessels. The vulpine had a vested interest in the human fighter-craft. Farther on down the line, if time and luck permitted, he would love to go against them and see exactly what they were made off, purely for fun of course.

"What a bunch of ugly blocks."

Fox shook his muzzle in consternation and looked over his shoulder. "I think they're interesting."

"These human ships are ugly, Fox. I mean just look at them. They're basically flying rectangles, and their color is so monotone." The avian stepped towards his friend as he began to critically analyze the alien fleet. "Look at them, no effort in design! It was as if someone said, 'let's make the most boring ship ever!' And everyone else was like, 'great idea bobby! Let's have no originality!'"

Fox chuckled and swept his tail around in an arc as he turned to face his friend. "What's really eating you, Falco?" He knew his friend too well. Falco had a pension to nitpick over the smaller things when he had a lot on his mind. Perhaps it was his way of dealing with situations beyond his control, Fox didn't know for sure. All he did know was that it made the avian out to be quite annoying sometimes.

Falco harrumphed and folded his arms in his customary way and responded after a few moments of irritable silence "I don't like this at all, Fox. We shouldn't be asking these aliens for help. We don't know anything about them. I mean they could just as easily finish us off when the battle is over. Besides, we've been kicking venomian ass for years, practically singlehandedly. And I for one would like to keep it that way."

'Not this time, my friend. This is a fight we cannot win alone.'

Fox digested what Falco was saying and nodded. "You have a point there Falco, but surely you understand that we have been incredibly lucky. I mean, think about it..." Fox turned from his friend to stare out the window and back at the human fleet, examining their alien hulls and weapons, weapons that could be used to turn back the venomian advance "We're all still alive, after everything we've been through, every obstacle we had to surmount; we all saw it through to the end. How long can we hope to keep that up? It's inevitable that our luck will run out. One day, we'll be in a situation we can't get out of, or face an opponent that's better than us. And when that happens....I don't want to even think about it." Fox sighed and rubbed a paw across his muzzle tiredly. "We can't keep fighting alone Falco. You might not know this, but Peppy and I have been talking for a long time. We are losing..." Fox let that depressing announcement hang in the air, unsurprised of the reaction his friend had.

Falco recoiled in shock, beak gaping open. His disbelief was palpable "What the hell are you talking about, Fox?!" In his eyes, they had been thoroughly beating their enemy in every battle. This was true, but what Falco did not grasp, was that those battles were the equivalent of dropping a pebble into the lake. They could not be there for every battle fought, and while they certainly won every one they participated in. The same could not be said for the CDF at large. As a whole, the CDF only won a little less than half their engagements, with a slightly higher percentage on the ground.

"The cornerian army is in shambles, Falco. We've been fighting for a long time you should understand that more than anybody. Just think, how many ships did we lose in the original Lylat Wars? How many soldiers, how many pilots? How many lost their lives afterwards in the aparoid invasion?" Fox rammed the facts home in a grim tone as he looked to his other friends standing to the side, out of hearing range of their gloomy argument. At that moment, he wished he was not privy to the information that he knew. But being a hero and savior of an entire system would always weigh heavy on the vulpine's psyche. He and Peppy had spent many long troubled and sleepless nights discussing the facts of the ongoing war. And before the arrival of the humans, neither had any idea how to pull their people from the brink. Now though, there was a chance, and Fox was desperate to latch onto it.

Burrowing the dark thoughts for now, he looked back to Falco, who was for one time silent and contemplative.

"Our fleets were decimated, our army depleted, and most importantly, our people have lost the will to keep fighting. They are tired of sending young cornerians off to die. Yet, the venomians seem to have inexhaustible legions of soldiers, moral, and equipment to call upon. I don't know how they are doing it, but no matter how many desperate victories we have scraped from certain defeat, despite the final death of Andross, they still persist to fight with the same dogged and relentless determination to see the system bend its knee. Frankly, at this point, we are out of options. I don't want to see everything we have fought to protect lost in their vainglorious desires for a new empire."

Fox's tone and shoulders sagged as a grim twist tugged on his muzzle. Ever since he and his friends first refuted Andross' attempt to take Lylat, it felt as if they were the only line of defense for the system and its people. They were always the ones who charged in and thwarted every attempt the venomians made, pulling victory from certain defeat. And when the aparoids showed up, they were the ones who had to beat them. And Fox was the leader of their group with all the pressures of command that brought. It was too much of a burden for one vulpine to handle. And yet he had no choice. No one else would shoulder load, and sometimes it felt like a physical weight and the stress just kept rising. One day, he was afraid that it would be getting to the point where he could no longer contain all the repressed anxiety and fear he had locked away inside...and then he would crack. He had no idea how his father handled all this pressure. But he was beginning to understand why he looked so tired all the time. Fox was drained, emotionally and physically. It was hard to act like the strong and charismatic leader while simultaneously fighting against the forces of Venom. What he needed was something to grab onto, to help return to him the faith in victory he was losing.

"So..." Fox eyed Falco with a glint of hope and desperation flashing across his piercing emerald eyes. "If there is even a remote chance that these aliens, these humans, would and could be willing to help us. I'm willing to take that risk."

'I'd take any risk if it would save our people.' Fox thought with a sigh.

Falco absorbed everything his friend had told him and after a few seconds he nodded staunchly and unfurled his feathered arms. "Alright Fox, I've put my confidence in you this long, I might as well ride it out to the end." The avian grinned broadly with his usual vigor and chuckled heartily. "Besides, I've got a bet going in my head."

"What's that?" Fox inquired, tail roaming around curiously behind him.

"Oh nothing, don't worry about it." Falco replied with a knowing smirk. "You'll find out eventually."

"I don't like the sound of that." Fox muttered and grinned alongside his friend as he headed towards the rest of his team. He was thankful for Falco's friendship. Sure, sometimes the avian could be an uncompromising ass. But he was always someone Fox could rely on; no matter what problem arose, they faced it together.

'Just as we always have...'

As he saw his friends, he could not help but worry about their absent member. He hoped that Krystal was doing alright among all those humans. As much as he wanted to believe that their intentions were noble, he remained anxious nonetheless. He knew that she was more than capable of handling herself and was perhaps a better fighter than he was. (Her telepathy gave her a critical advantage.) But that did nothing to ease his concerns. She was a close friend of his, and while she may not have any interests in pursuing a relationship with him, he still cared for her deeply. It hurt to know that, but he would still look out for her.

At least Liam would be there to help her out, he didn't know why, but Fox felt that he could trust that man, even if he could not extend that same level of confidence to the other humans. They may have had a rocky start, but Fox genuine believed that Liam was a trustworthy individual. That belief had been cemented on him when he learned that the human had taken a shot intended for Krystal. If Liam was willing to risk his own life for the safety of his friends, then he was someone that the vulpine could put his faith in.

In fact, after interacting with the human soldier, Fox was starting to believe that their two races were not all that different. Sure there were the drastic physical contrasts, but beyond that they seemed to have the same psychological mindset.

"Hey Foxy, what's cranking your gears?"

Fox glanced to his left and saw the feisty feline interceptor pilot leaning on the wall next to the large window, playing with a zipper on her flight suit and pawing at her tail lazily with her other appendage. The cat was always fiddling with something it seemed.

'Oh, if only you knew...'

"Just thinking about our new position, I'm hoping that everything works out." He responded as he moved to the side of the group with Falco, who glared at Miyu grumpily. The bird was still sore after their conversation on the planet not so long ago. One thing he knew for certain about Falco, was that he could hold a grudge for a long time.

The feline nodded and rolled her shoulders. "Yeah I know what you mean. I hate to say it Fox, but we could really use the help. Things have not been going so well recently."

He shared a nod with her and turned to Slippy. He had been worried about the young toad since the attack started earlier that day. It was obvious that he was not cut out for all the groundwork and it was admirable that he had lasted as long as he did. But it looked like he had recovered well after their recent plight. At the moment, Slippy looked anything but worried as he stared raptly outside towards the large formation of human vessels. "How you holding up there Slip?"

The toad whipped his head around and looked to Fox with a telltale gleam of excitement. "Look at these ships, Fox! The design and effort in their construction is amazing! Look at that one." The toad pointed to a particularly large specimen that had to be at least two kilometer long. Fox noticed a distinct difference between it and the other ships comprising the human fleet. Unlike the blocky hulls of the other ships, this one had slanted plating running from both prow and stern and it was marginally wider than the others. Fox could see a bridge stacked atop the front of the vessel.

"What about it Slip?"

"It's huge!" Slippy explained as he looked at it in awe. "We could fit at least seven battleships inside it. That thing could have probably beat back Andross in the first Lylat war, singlehandedly!"

Fox and the others heard chuckling behind them and turned to see their two escorts standing close by. They probably didn't understand what Slippy had been saying, but his open enthusiasm was something that transcended any language barrier.

Now that their escorts were closer they could see them in better detail. It was a little hard to pick out the gender differences with their strange grey and black armor. But both looked to be male humans, having a more rugged jaw and flatter chests then the females they saw on their way to the observation deck. Their helmets hung at their waists, clipped to their bulky silvery grey armor and both had dark brown fur shaved close to their scalps, although the one on the left was slightly greying. The pair of men held soft smiles and looked to be greatly amused by something. The older male reached into his armor's rigging and pulled out a small figurine, holding it out for the toad. Fox fleetingly spied a photo of a small smiling human in the same pouch, but he lost sight of the picture when the soldier snapped it closed.

Slippy nervously approached the human and looked to see what it was. His jumpy expression faded and he looked up at the larger alien with a grateful smile as he grabbed the small toy, holding it in his webbed hands. Fox, ever curious, looked over his friends shoulder and saw that it was a small scale model of one of their ships, the one Slippy had been pointing at.

The man grinned back and spoke in his strange syllabic language before tapping his comrade on the shoulder and walking back to their duty positions.

Fay looked to the two men and Falco, a smug grin on her muzzle. "It looks like they may not so bad as you think Falco."

The avian shrugged at her comment and chose not to respond.

Meanwhile Slippy held the small figurine and thumbed over it carefully. It had been luck of the draw that the human's gift was a model. Slippy collected ship figurines and often showed Fox the huge collection he had back before the Great Fox had been destroyed in the aparoid war, along with his and most everybody else's possessions. Since then Slippy had been trying to reconstruct his collection, and now it seemed he had just received an exceptionally exclusive alien collector's item.

Fox smiled. He was happy for the toad. Slippy was one of the longest standing friends Fox ever had, they had gone to the military academy together. Falco came along later; he never actually went to the flight academy on Corneria or if he did he never told Fox. Instead he had belonged to a gang called the Hot Rodders and was their boss until he joined Fox's team years ago.

The vulpine turned away from his crew and left them to their own devices, walking to Arden and his three squad members, the wolf was standing at a distance from them. Arden and his men were rather aloof, choosing to keep their distance. Fox did not know the reason but he respected their decision.

"How are you holding up Gale?" The vulpine inquired. Gale was the feline that had taken a bolt to the shoulder back during their cave skirmish.

"I'm alright Mister Mccloud, Sir." The feline responded timidly.

Fox chuckled. "You don't have to call me Sir. I'm no one special."

"Right, sorry." The infantry cat nodded and flicked his ears in awkwardness.

Fox sighed at that. His reputation always made people either nervous or over excited to talk with him. It got frustrating for the vulpine as he didn't want to be treated any differently than anybody else. He didn't think that his job was any more special than the soldiers who fought for the army. It didn't sit right with him and often manifested as a sickly feeling in his gut. Fox hated that he got all the publicity while the soldiers of the cornerian army lost their lives and received almost none of the respect and awareness that they deserved. That was flaw in their society. No one wanted to face the hard truths. It was easier to applaud a single hero then accepting the thousands upon thousands that died. At times, Fox felt disgusted with himself.

"It's alright, just don't forget that." Fox reassured the anxious cat and gave him a warm smile.

Gale visibly eased up and smiled back weakly.

"Now then, how are the rest of you holding up?" It might be surprising that Fox would care. But the vulpine made it a personal point after the aparoid wars to get to know any soldier he fought with. They deserved to have someone who cared about their lives.

Fox also did his best to memorize their names and faces, so when they responded he knew who was who.

Carter was a young German Shepard with splotchy black and brown fur and tattered ears. And Ryan was a Golden retriever with large floppy ears and he seemed to always be smiling about something.

Fox looked to Arden and asked how he was doing.

"I'll live. But I'll feel a hell of a lot better when we finally get a chance to pay the damn venomians back." He added with a soft growl.

"Don't worry; I think that soon we'll get that chance." Fox replied as he heard the doors open and a familiar figure walked in.

At the sight of her, they all converged on the vixen, eager to hear what the news was.

'So, what's the verdict? Will they help us?" Fay asked hopefully.

Krystal grinned happily. "Yes."

Fox felt a hefty portion of the weight on his shoulders disperse at the news. "That's great to hear!"

"So, when are we getting this train moving?" Falco demanded eagerly. "I'm about ready to get some serious pay back."

"Well, then you'll be glad to hear that you won't be waiting long."

Falco turned his beak to the newly opened door where Liam stood with a smirk. "The admiral is moving the fleet as we speak and we'll be arriving at the planet in less than an hour. He invites you to the bridge where you can see the battle first hand."

"Alright, that's my kind of plan!" Falco stated readily as he headed towards the door. As they all stepped out Slippy gave a parting wave to the two soldiers who had been watching over them and the older one smiled, waving back with a chuckle.

Liam took them all to the bridge quickly and led them inside where they studied its strange design. Unlike cornerian command and control centers, this one was spacious and filled with all manners of consoles and foreign equipment. Their bridge was also more disciplined, none of the crew turned away from their consoles at the arrival of the group of aliens. The admiral was standing near the center of the bridge and looked over to see them all standing by the doors.

He motioned them towards him and they moved to stand by his side. Outside the viewport, they could see the diminutive outlines of the huge battle raging overhead the planet. The admiral turned to one of his bridge crew and moments later, a section of the battle was magnified.

"Which of these ships belong to your forces? Firing on the wrong ones would be counterintuitive to assisting them." He said with a smile.

"Ours are the ships with the blue and silver coloring and wedge shaped profiles." Krystal explained simply as she pointed a paw towards the smaller force of lighter colored ships. "That one is Admiral Marcus's." Her furred finger shifted to point to one slightly larger than the rest.

Matthias nodded in recognition and turned to the bridge. "Set course to heading eight-zero-three at full engine burn and get _The Immortal_on the horn."

The whole ship shuddered as it shifted on its new direction and a hologram materialized in the tank at the center of the bridge. A young captain with steely blond hair and pale skin answered.

"Yes, Admiral?"

"I'm splitting the fleet into two battle groups, designations Helios and Epsilon. Your ship, the two corvette pickets, and the marathon cruisers, Midsummer's Solace, Lightning Bolt, and Thundercloud will comprise your forces along with the destroyers, Athens, Sparta, and Syracuse. Your task will be to suppress enemy fighter support and keep smaller ships away from battle group Helios."

"On your orders, Admiral." The captain saluted briskly and disappeared. Out in space, the ship that Slippy had been eyeing lethargically peeled away from the main force along with ten smaller vessels, three large cruisers and three smaller more slanted craft. The new battlegroup angled away from the rest of the fleet and headed along a parallel vertical axis.

"Daniels, coordinate the rest of the fleet. I want the destroyers and cruisers organized around the supercarrier and categorized into smaller packs. Give me equalized distribution of MAC volleys. I want at least one pack firing every minute. Have all ships prep archer missile silos and launch the remaining squadrons of longsword and broadsword fighters. All ships enter condition red and have crews ready to repel borders. Curtis, open a secure broadcast directed to the Admiral's ship, unencrypted."

Fox and the others were impressed by the effectiveness and coordination of the human fleet. They were far more efficient and martial than the cornerians were, that was a certainty.

Matthias turned from the appearing holo screens and towards the group of aliens, or rather the blue vixen in particular. "Ms. Krystal, if you would please have one of your friends broadcast our presence. Let them know what we are here for."

Krystal nodded and turned to Fox, translating for him. "The admiral has opened a channel so you can contact the fleet."

Fox nodded and took an unconscious step forwards and cleared his throat. "This is Fox Mccloud to Admiral Marcus. Can you hear me, sir?"

The reply was almost instantaneous. "Thank the gods! We thought you and your team had been overrun down there, where are you, where is this signal coming from?"

Fox found himself chuckling nervously like a kid who brought someone home that his parents didn't know about. "Well you see...we made some new friends admiral."

"What are you talking about Mccloud?" The bewildered admiral demanded. Marcus was not in the mood for games, which was understandable given his fleet's current predicament.

"It looks like some aliens stumbled across our skirmish and in the effort of saving time; I'll just say they are willing to help us." Fox blurted out finally, ready for the expected response to such an announcement.

The admiral did not respond for several moments. In the background they could hear loud voices issuing orders and what sounded like explosions. "....Is this a joke, Mccloud? Because if it is, it's exceptionally ill timed."

"Not at all, Sir, here's one of them now." Fox nudged Liam and tilted his muzzle knowingly in the man's direction.

It took a moment for him to understand but when realization dawned upon him he nodded swiftly and cleared his throat. "What Fox says is true. My name is Liam Callahan, a Lieutenant of the United Nations Space Command. We discovered your planet and the battle in orbit. This may be overwhelming, but I assure you, we're stunned just as much as you are."

"Say I do decide to believe you, that you are in fact alien. What are you and your people ready to do? As you can see I am rather busy at the moment."

"For one Sir, we have a fleet deployed and nearing the conflict zone. You should be seeing them momentarily."

".....So I am." The admiral muttered in consternation. "Looks like you were telling the truth Mister Callahan. In that case, I hope you are really are going to help us. Because, at the moment, it looks like we've run out of time."

"We'll do our part; just make sure that your ships don't fire on ours."

"I think we can manage that." The beleaguered admiral ended the transmission quickly.

Liam was surprised that it had gone so smoothly, but then again the cornerians as it were, did not have much time to think over the offer of assistance. They desperately needed help so Liam supposed that they didn't want to look a gift horse in the mouth. With a shrug he turned back to the admiral.

"Those were some strange noises you just made, Lieutenant. Mind telling me what you just said?" Matthias asked pointedly. It was one thing to know that Liam spoke their language, but it was entirely different to see it in action. By rights, a human making such noises should have looked unnatural, yet for whatever reason it didn't. And Matthias was not sure what to make of that.

Liam turned to Matthias. "Of course, the cornerian Admiral said that he would inform his fleet to not fire on our ships."

"How very kind..." The Admiral replied with an unperturbed smirk.

Matthias' smirk was swiftly dropped as he turned to the bridge crew. 'Well then, looks like it's our time to shine. Let's see what these venomians are made of. The admiral stepped off his chair and strode towards the front of the ship, Liam may have been a peerless ODST, but Matthias was a man of the fleet and very few of his fellow admirals were his equal. He had years of combat experience and had worked hard for the position he found himself in. He had lost much, but he had learned more.

The Admiral studied the enemy fleet as his forces glided into attack position. He spied approximately ninety or so ships, a good forty of those were the cornerian vessels. By and large, most of the ships on either side were small, way more so than his ships. This was a huge battle. Matthias had only ever fought in one like it once before...and that was over Sigmus IV. He just hoped that this engagement would have a better ending.

In his studies of the conflict in front of him, he noticed one of the venomian vessels that stuck out from the rest. It was larger than its peers, at about half the size of The Immortal. It was certainly a ship to be wary off. He had no doubt that had some dangerous guns on it. The rest however were made up of vessels round eighty percent the length of a strident heavy frigate. Yet he did notice that they were wider than UNSC vessels. So in comparison, they were about the same, just with different geometries. It was also important to note that they used advanced laser based weapons, which was something not to take lightly. There was no telling what they would do to Titanium-A battleplate. At the least they seemed capable of burning through pelican armor easily enough.

Yet he was confident in his fleet, while it was by far not the largest UNSC fleet ever assembled, it was the meanest. Most UNSC fleets only had one or two marathon cruisers at the most. But his fleet had five. Marathon cruisers were capital ships in their own right and were usually reserved as command ships, but HIGHCOM had graciously allowed him to take some from the home fleet to bolster his expedition in the case of unforeseen events. And this could definitely constitute as one. His fleet was also populated with a large portion of Paris-class and Strident-class heavy frigates. This augmented his already powerful flotilla and gave him a wider array of tactical options and the MAC cannons should give him a valuable advantage against these aliens.

Still...

As he watched the two alien fleets duke it out in a display of flashing lights and swarms of fighters, his confidence flagged.

Both the venomians and cornerians fielded almost unbelievably large amounts of fighter craft. While his fleet had a decent stock of longswords and broadswords, he knew that they would be constantly outnumbered. And they were too far from UNSC space to suffer catastrophic losses. The massive automated foundries on The Immortal would only be able to replace vehicles and expended munitions, not people or ships. Any vessels or crew lost in any battle hence forth would be irreplaceable. And that was a factor he had to seer into his brain. Communications with the admiralty board and UEG joint committee would take weeks between transmissions, even with slipspace beacons. He had already sent a full to bursting report back to HIGHCOM as soon as he finished speaking with the female cornerian, but a response would take at best, two and a half weeks, and a month at worst if slipspace was particularly turbulent.

They were well and truly on their own and until he received word back from HIGHCOM, all key decisions were placed squarely on his lap and the consequences of those decisions, on his shoulders.

Sometimes he hated his job.

"Admiral, we are nearing the battle zone, Battlegroup Helios will enter effective weapons range in fifteen minutes. Epsilon will be thirty seconds behind."

Matthias was pulled out of his musing and turned to his Sensor officer, a bald Caucasian man by the name of Rios.

"Rios, alert me when we are sixty-seconds from optimal firing range."

"By your orders, Admiral." The man saluted from his console.

Matthias shifted his attention away and back to the matters at hand. Before he did anything, there was someone he had to consult. The dark skinned admiral walked towards the holotank near the center of the bridge and waited. He knew he didn't have to do anything.

On cue, the smaller monolithic terminal lit up blue and a female holographic figure materialized. At her appearance, the cornerians gaped and watched. It was clear to the admiral at that moment that their race either did not know what an AI was or had not developed any quite like theirs.

**********

"Why do you always wait until trouble starts before calling me?" The feminine AI demanded with an amused smirk, her digital eyes shifting ever so slightly to study the aliens on the bridge. Ash had been monitoring them the moment they stepped aboard, and she had already sifted through the Admiral's personal report and the one from the planetary operation as soon as they had been written.

Sure she may have not had the clearance to access them at the time, but what they didn't know wouldn't hurt them, a human phrase she was quite fond of. Her creators were rather odd that way. They had all these double entendre sayings, and yet didn't seem to understand them half the time. And the other half of that time was spent disputing them.

She switched her processing power back to the aliens. They were definitely an odd bunch. She knew enough about earthen fauna to know that they had close, (perhaps too close), similarities to them. The machine in her was eager to study their anatomy and get a better look at what made them tick. And the more human side of her, was curious to see what they were like on a more social and racial level.

These, cornerians, as she had heard them identified as, were such a diverse race. It was fascinating that they all seemed to get along so well, bar the massive naval battle they were about to embark upon. From what she had witnessed from the ship's security cameras, besides the natural bickering of the type she had observed among her creators, the cornerians seemed to not hold any racial tension, much unlike humans throughout their long and oftentimes sordid history. Many civil rights movements and wars had been fought before equality had successfully made its way through society. And that was with very minimal differences. She could only speculate on how they must have handled similar societal problems. They had far much more to fight about, fur, scales, feathers, muzzles, beaks, even hot blooded and cold blooded. It was a lot for her to think about, and she was hoping she would get a chance to discuss all of that in greater detail with them.

She had studied their language, and she was not yet close to cracking it, which infuriated her to no end as it seemed one of her creators had been gifted that ability, through means that he had yet to completely reveal to his superiors. Communication would have been difficult to say the least, but thankfully, one of them understood the human language, specifically English. Ash knew every spoken language and most dead ones known to mankind. So this represented a unique challenge to her. She wanted to be the first AI to speak and comprehend an alien language. It would be something to rub into the proverbial faces of her collogues.

Yet those thoughts were for another time, she had much to attend to at the moment. She shifted her attention back to the present and checked her internal clock. Exactly .0008 seconds had transpired between her arrival and observations.

The Admiral responded to her early on question, oblivious to the AI's reflections.

"I know you are busy monitoring the whole fleet, even for an AI like you that must take most of your concentration. I thought it would be best to let you worry about that....not that I have to explain myself to an AI." The Admiral added with a soft chuckle.

If Ash had real eyes she would have rolled them, instead she folded her arms in an obvious stance of disapproval. "If you really knew an AI like me, you would know that watching over the fleet does not take more than half of my attention."

"Perhaps..." Matthias replied simply. "In either case, you're here now, and as you are completely aware of, being an AI such as yourself, you know what is happening."

She huffed, but could not refrain from smiling. "Of course I do, and I must say, you seem to get into a lot of trouble when I'm not around to babysit you. I mean look at this." She pointed a glowing blue hand to the viewport. "That looks a lot like a war between two alien factions, no wait...it is a war between two alien factions. Things seemed to have escalated since our last conversation."

"Well..." Matthias began.

As the two bickered, the rest of the crew paid it no mind. They had gotten used to the Admiral and AI's banter. The two had been going at it since she was commissioned for his ship years ago. So it was to be expected. Instead they were focused on the logistics of the upcoming battle. Fighter squadrons had to be coordinated, ships had to be guided, and firing systems had to be fully functional. Not only that, but they all had their own thoughts on what they were getting into. It was true that the vote to stay had been mostly unanimous, but that did not mean that they were eager for what lay ahead. It was going to be a long and difficult road, and there was no telling what was at the end.

While they prepared for battle, Liam took the cornerians to the side of the bridge where they would not interfere with operations and still be able to see what was going on. He would have taken the time to speak with them, but he felt that silence would be best at the moment. They could speak after the battle was won. He doubted it would be easy to do so once the MAC rounds and archer missiles started flying.

"Just sit back here and try to relax."

"Relax..." Falco deadpanned.

Liam rolled his eyes. "Look, just try not to get into any trouble yeah?" The helljumper looked over his shoulder at the Admiral who had by that time ended his childish argument with the surly AI and was once more focused on the battle and then turned back to the avian. "Now would not be a good time to do anything rash. If you have any more questions and thoughts, it would be best to hold onto them."

Fox could see where the human was coming from and nodded his assent. In short order the others agreed and they went silent. There was a large alcove on the left side of the bridge where they could be out of the way. There were also a few lavish chairs there as well that they could use.

"This is where the bigwigs sat when they used the Admiral's ship. I guess it's not exactly against regulations if you guys sit here." Liam explained as he led them to the large comfy seats. It was odd for a warship to have such amenities, but civilians enjoyed their creature comforts. The chairs had been requested by several high level dignitaries and the admiral had reluctantly acquiesced.

"Where are you going to sit?" Krystal asked curiously.

Liam shrugged. "I don't know...wherever I suppose. I'm an ODST, so unless there's an EVA op he needs I have nothing else to do."

The vixen sat down on one of the chairs and patted the seat next to her. "Why not here?"

Liam thought it over and shrugged again. "I don't see why not." He took his seat beside the vixen and leaned back into the luxuriant armchair with a sigh. 'These are some nice damn chairs.'

The chairs may have been nice and soft, but Liam could not help but feel uncomfortable. He hated this part of his job, the waiting. He was helpless inside the ship; there was nothing he could do to fight back. He could do nothing to prevent a laser from striking the bridge or a fighter deciding to go kamikaze. Everything was in the hands of the crew and pilots now. He just hoped that they would come out on top against these foes.

**********

Thousands of kilometers away, amidst the swirling firestorm of ship-to-ship combat, a single black and red vessel stood out amongst its comrades. This armored leviathan was huge, more than a kilometer long and bristling with a myriad of deadly weapons. The menacing ship loomed over both its allies and its adversaries. Its guns were powerful enough to cripple a cornerian frigate in a single salvo and its hangers were home to more than five hundred of the best venomian fighter pilots in service. It had led the sacking of Corneria in the first Lylat War and it had held its own against the Aparoids above Venom itself years later. Andross's Fist had a long decorated service history. The ship was old and experienced much like its admiral.

Admiral Perseus Claw was one of the oldest commanders in Venom's navy. He had served Lord Andross himself and now he followed the deceased ape's heir, Andrew Oikonny. The aged reptilian was a firm believer that Venom could once more attain the glory it had lost and he was willing to do anything to assure their rightful ascension as the masters of this system. The only thing standing in his way was the CDF.

Those cornerian dogs had thwarted their plans for too many years to count. But the Komodo Dragon could smell change on the wind. His long hated foes were not as strong as they had once been. Years of complacency had dulled them into a false sense of security, believing that Venom had lost its once dangerous power. For this, the Admiral was eager to correct them.

Everything had could not have fallen into place better. Months of planning had finally yielded fruitful results. It had been difficult to leak false information to the CDF without them learning of their cunning plans. They had to shift the taskforce above Eladard out of system to make the planet look vulnerable enough for the CDF to risk an attack with their worn-down fleet. As soon as it had been confirmed that the CDF army had taken the bait, Perseus had his spies discover where their fleet would stop to consolidate and made sure that his force would sufficiently outnumber them.

So as the CDF rallied their forces over Papetoon, his armada ghosted into position. It had been child's play to outmaneuver their enemy's radar and move into a tactically advantageous position.

Then, as soon as the CDF was at their peak of disorganization, they attacked.

The opening shots of the void war had been precise and brutal. The opening bombardment had claimed more than six CDF cruisers and damaged their lead carrier. Perseus had capitalized on their disharmony and managed to cripple two more vessels before the CDF could even begin to retaliate.

Since then both fleets have pulled back and clashed a dozen times, each brining the battle more in the favor of the venomian aggressors. It was clear to the Admiral that victory was at hand that day. Even as they conquered in space, their forces on the ground destroyed the CDF military bases and subjected the populace. Soon, the Admiral would plant the venomian flag on the surface himself and report back to Lord Oikonny. The simian would be pleased to hear word of his conquest and Perseus would at last honor the memory of his departed leader.

All that was left was to mop of the rest of the enemy fleet and assist his army in claiming the surface and quelling any and all resistance.

The reptilian's salient eyes scanned the ensuing battle in search of a weakness to exploit in the enemy's defensive line, shortly spotting a gap in their frigate screen. A coordinated attack with his reserve bombers and corvette support should widen the opening, allowing him to slip a pack of cruisers past to wreak havoc amongst the defenders. This time the CDF would not emerge triumphant. He had heard news that the Starfox team had been grounded somewhere on the planet, and would not be showing up to foil his plans as they had done numerous times in the past. It truly was the best he could have wished for.

Yet, before he could conduct his master stroke in his symphony of destruction, a shrill voice shattered his daydreams of glory and admiration.

"Admiral Perseus, unknown contacts are closing on our stern!"

As soon as that declaration made its way to his ear holes, the Komodo Dragon, whipped his muzzle away from the bridge's viewport and to the large holotank in the center of his command station.

Indeed, there were thirty-eight unknowns split into roughly two even groups, and both of these were heading in his direction on an intercept course. This made the reptilian growl. 'What now?' Victory was in his claws!

"I want a scan on the new contacts immediately!" He hissed, swiping a clawed hand in the air furiously.

The ensign balked and nodded weakly, tapping away at his console and responding within moments. "Admiral, the ships have unknown drive signatures and do now match any known ship configurations."

For the first time since he started his career, the cold-blooded reptile felt the cold. 'How had they gotten so close without being detected?' Some of their ships were...enormous. Perseus did not know what these strangers' intentions were, but he was not one for taking chances.

"Reorient the cruisers and split the fighters into two groups. I want group one to stay on the cornerians but have group two support the cruisers. Charge weapons and prepare to fire on the new vessels." 'If these outsiders wish to disrupt my conquest, they will face my wrath.' He was far too close to victory to back down from anything. His blood was burning for satisfaction and only complete and total domination of his hated opposition would quench the flames.

'Admiral, are you su-"

"DO NOT QUESTION ME!" He roared, backhanding the ensign who had been bold enough to speak against him. The Admiral's lethal claws raked across the other reptilian's green scaled cheek, drawing a river of crimson blood. The gecko stumbled backwards, clutching his bleeding snout and retreated from his commander's sight in fear of further reprimanding.

With any resistance cowed, the dragon continued. "Once the new contacts are within range, have the cruisers fire upon them. If they continue to approach, then they will learn the error of their ways."

Not one questioned the validity of such a response and was quick to do as the infuriated Admiral ordered. They were all far too afraid to do anything else.

**********

"MAC cannons will be within effective range in one minute, Admiral." His weapons officer announced. By this time Ash had entered the ship's systems and was assisting the weapons officer in aiming the heavy guns.

Matthias nodded and crossed his arms behind his back.

The enemy was now aware of their presence, a portion of their fleet was moving to shore up their rearward defenses and he could see swarms of fighters following suit. In response, battle group Epsilon maneuvered it's longswords into a defensive screen and launched them into the middle of the developing no man's land. The corvettes glided into position alongside the fighters, creating a decent anti-fighter screen. The three marathon cruisers stayed in the rear where there MAC's could be put to use and finally, The Immortal came in last. It was a powerful ship without a doubt, but it was also weak, an oxymoronic statement if he ever heard one. It had been an old dilapidated colony ship before it had been retrofitted for their expedition. The techs on Reach insisted that it would be able to hold its own weight with its upgraded hull, additions of countless Archer missile pods and instillation of the pair of mini MACS, but the vessel itself was far too important to their fleet as a whole to risk it on the frontline.

The Immortal was their supply ship. Without it, they would not be able to maintain the fleet or the people in it. The hydroponics lab and munitions factories aboard the large vessel were vital in keeping everything running smoothly. Not to mention that over 11,000 thousand souls lived aboard. 5,000 of this number were colonists who would start up a colony once they found a suitable world, giving them an outpost in the far reaches of space, a home away from home if you will. Those were a lot of innocent people. And he was responsible for making sure they arrived at their new home safe and sound. It was precarious to use that ship in combat, but it was a necessary hazard.

Still, with all these worries, it would provide adequate leadership to his secondary forces and gave the other battle group something to rally around. The captain of The Immortal, a one Jeremy Invarstead, was a capable leader and Matthias' auxiliary commandant. The captain was experienced with the role he played and would perform well.

Matthias was not worried about that. He had a backup plan just in case things started to turn south. The prowler company had separated from the main fleet and would lay down moray mines if needed and Matthias would bait these venomians into entering the field. That was a last resort. He would rather not have to use all his tricks in one battle.

"Thirty seconds to effective MAC range, Admiral."

He nodded.

"I want every MAC cannon to have a target, Make sure that each ship is not targeting the same vessel. I want to ensure maximum efficiency."

MAC's were only good for ranged combat. And he knew once the enemy realized the danger of that weapon, they would want to close in to nullify its effectiveness. It took several minutes for a MAC cannon to recharge and in that time the enemy could reach them. It was vital that the first salvo do as much damage as possible.

"The battle group's targeting coordinates are locked."

"Excellent...fire when ready."

Matthias observed his bridge as the colossal carrier orientated its tri-barreled prow in the direction of its target, a smaller bulbous red and black cruiser-class ship near the front of the enemy's newly formed line. All around him, he could hear and feel the enormous MAC cannons charge up in the form of a dull humming and slight reverberations in the deck beneath his boots. There was nothing more stirring for a loyal UNSC soldier to see than a MAC round soaring out of its barrel.

"Target locked, firing MAC." The weapons officer had a grin in his voice as the guns fired.

The deck shuddered violently as the immense store of kinetic energy was released and the trio of 1000-ton tungsten slugs bludgeoned their way through space and towards their target at 4000 kilometers a second. With all three MAC's hitting the same target, they had the combined strength of an orbital defense platform. The supercarrier's MAC slugs flew far faster than its smaller brethren and hit the enemy fleet in advance.

And when they impacted against the cruiser, the effects were...staggering.

The venomian cruiser simply ceased to exist.

The warship was instantly vaporized, detonating as whatever type of shielding it had was completely unable to deflect all of the inertia and weight of the massive shells. The explosion was so powerful that there was an area of effect around the initial site of the blast, scattering the other cruisers and destroying a swath of the enemy's fighters.

They were given no break as the rest of the MAC rounds from the fleet found their way to their intended targets. Some missed however, as the ships they had been destined for were shifted by the explosion. But those that did hit had effective results as well.

Unfortunately, Matthias noticed that they did not do as much damage as his supercarrier. The venomian's shields seem to be able to withstand the brunt of the smaller cartridges by a surprising margin. The force of the MAC rounds carried through shields and crumpled their hulls. But for the most part the enemy ships survived intact and still fully functional. Matthias knew that without those shields they would not have survives as well as they did.

Soon after the volley, there was a brief pause in action as the enemy tried to comprehend what had just happened. When they did, they acted with admirable haste. The cruisers who initially were waiting for battle lines to close charged forwards, followed by their fighters rocketing towards the UNSC battle line. They knew they had to cancel out the new threats lethal long range weapon, and soon.

Matthias watched as the enemy ships started to close, observing as the longswords peeled away from the fleet and moved to engage the swarm of approaching fighters. The oddly shaped guns alongside the hulls of the alien cruisers glowed with dark red energy and they spread out in order to make it more difficult for the MAC's to hit them.

"And so it begins." Matthias muttered to himself.

Now was the time to see if they were up to the task.