Chapter 20 Staring out into the intense battle before his eyes, Admiral Hood turned to his officers, all sitting at their stations, typing away commands into their consoles. His eyes didn’t hold the same light they did when he entered the battle, his optimism leaving, hope fading. “What is our status compared to the Covenant armada?” “Sir, they outnumber us about…they have six ships for every five of ours. It’s much closer than Cortana originally predicted. We may be able to tip that balance soon.” Very optimistic, but unrealistic. The chances to do that fall with every ship we lose. They continue to send boarding parties to Earth and to the orbital stations as well. How we’ve managed to stay in orbit, I can only guess. But soon they will overpower this station, and the others, and the fleet will have no backup. With the number left now, it’s only a matter of hours until they do. The lack of sleep and old age had caught up threefold on his face, almost looking like a wrinkled dog’s face. But nothing but death would shake him from the intense focus he had while looking at the tactical display, showing the entire space battle on the simple two dimensional board. He searched for a way to bring victory to his people, but with the larger number of Covenant vessels there, it simply seemed impossible. They were outgunned, outmanned, and outclassed. And even if they did win, what about the next armada? Surely the Covenant had more vessels to attack with, as they had one this size destroyed at the Unyielding Hierophant, and there must have been more. This fight might be in vain. That thought repeated over and over in his head, when his lieutenant’s voice brought him back to reality. “ONI central is requesting that you give all command over to them immediately, and they will eliminate the threat now. I don’t know what they mean, but I’m not getting any more intel on it.” What are they up to? If I refuse to agree, they can’t do anything, not now. But what can I do? Maybe they have a solution, but they are hiding it. Is it worth the risk? “Ok, they have full authority over the operation, clearance alpha gamma epsilon 369. But I want to be immediately told in any changes with the fight out there. Understood? “Yes sir. Sending message now.” The Cairo fired another round, the huge ball of depleted uranium traveling at a fourth the speed of light. The thought of it traveling so fast took his mind off the battle for a moment, a moment desperately needed now. According to Einstein’s theory of relativity, the mass of the projectile increased significantly due to the huge velocity, as did the momentum, and thus, the damage. Not only that, but it appeared smaller to anyone watching it, making the target unaware of how truly powerful the blast was. A direct hit was almost a sure fire guarantee that the target was to be obliterated, or at least not leave the battle without a huge hole in it. “Admiral, encoded messages are being sent through to all allied vessels. It says to bring all Covenant forces as close to sectors 21, 24 and 27.” “Sectors 21, 24 and 27? Nothing is in those sectors. Why would they-” The admiral’s brow scrunched closed, his eyes looking from side to side as though to find the answer. Sectors 21, 24 and 27 were placed off limits during battle preparations. That means that they put something there, waiting for the battle to turn ugly, and ONI would come in and save the day. But the only thing that could work would be…“-Order all ships to avoid those areas immediately! There are nuclear weapons there, and all those ships will be damaged or disabled!” “Sir, we’re being jammed! No communications can be sent.” “What? From where?” “Scanning…sir, it’s coming from within the Cairo.” A look of anger warped the admiral’s face, as he walked with heavy-set fists through the control panel. The line-up of officers continued to work, typing away strenuously to solve whatever problems they were dealing with. All but one. Picking up his pace, Hood came to the man’s console, seeing a dark screen. The officer sat cross armed, obviously waiting for the Admiral to find him. “I order you to get rid of that jammer immediately!” “I’m afraid he can’t do that admiral”, a voice spoke through the speakers on the control. The familiarity and coolness of it alarmed Hood, and only a single thought came through his head, as his teeth gritted and the other officers stared and watched. His face appeared on the screen as it lit up, a smile across his face sent a chill down Hood’s spine. That smile was frightening, constant through every word, never wavering, as though to seem pleasant. But there was more to that look, something hidden, something making this man in complete control of the situation “Colonel James Ackerson.” “I’m glad I haven’t been forgotten, even that’s what I’m sure you’ve really wanted for quite some time now. Isn’t that correct?” His voice stayed calm and steady, never wavering from its coolness. It heated up the admiral, unable to keep calm himself with complete control, but safe for the time being. “Ackerson, you will not get my fleet destroyed. Not on my watch.” “I’m sorry admiral, but my hands are tied. You gave over all your command functions over to me just a minute ago. And I’m simply working for the best interest of human society. I would suggest that you and your crew leave that station while you still have a chance. It will be difficult without any systems functioning.” “When I get my hands on you, I’ll-” “Don’t worry, you won’t. Chances are that I’ll be considered a huge war hero from my bravery while you are forgotten, honorably discharged, and moved to some remote estate where nobody will ever find you. You should be thanking me. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a war to win.” “Ackerson!” But it was too late, the screen died, killing the image of Ackerson’s stupid grin from the space station, possibly for the last time. A headache brewed within the admiral’s head as he ran into overdrive, thinking of anything that would solve this problem. Anything that could help in any way, but nothing came to him. As though a brick wall had been placed in front of his thoughts, it allowed him no insight to save his fleet, and threatened to tumble onto him. “I want a way to contact the fleet, and I want it now! If we don’t warn them, most of the fleet will be gone, and the rest of it will be immobile from the EMP blast, including this station.” But it was no use. The tactical display showed the fleet doing just as they were ordered, collecting a large portion of themselves and the Covenant vessels into those sectors. They were almost full, those sectors crawling with more ships per square kilometer than he’d ever seen before. That’s when it struck. A huge blast ripped through those vessels, tearing through Covenant and Human alike. It blew away every atom of their hulls like dust in the wind, disintegrating every trace of metal and flesh. Only the large explosion was visible, and only for a moment before anyone looking could not watch any longer, for the intensity of the blast was brighter than the sun. The admiral covered his eyes with his arm, yet still tried to watch. The futile attempt only led to a momentary blindness and disorientation, and the universe disappeared for a moment. Then the shockwave came at the Cairo, shaking it violently, and all electronic devices died without a trace, no way to repair it so quickly. This meant every single system aboard the Cairo was gone, including life support and possibly the backup generators, which may have been on due to the damage received. “Do we have any power left?” “I’m not sure sir. And even if there was, turning on the equipment might spend it.” “Fine, I’m ordering the evacuation of this station. We’re sitting ducks up here without any power, and it’ll take a week and an entire crew to fix her, and we don’t have that kind of time. Everyone get to the evacuation pods, and if you find any other personnel, inform them to do the same. There’s not much we can do now.” He looked back where the three explosions took place, and something reflected from it into the corner of his eye. Squinting as best he could, the Admiral made out his worst nightmare: Covenant battle cruisers, still intact and now moving out of that sector. Oh hell, without any more ships to defend, they’ve got a straight shot at Earth! The ships grew larger, and his eyes widened when he saw why. “Covenant ships on attack vector, heading straight for us! Get the hell out of here now!” The bridge filled with panic, all officers now crazed in search of some way to sustain themselves. But Lord Hood had no time to ponder this, as he himself was caught in the frenzy, running towards the closest known escape pod sector available. The pearl white halls and small and seemingly insignificant call sign’s of each hall- and walkway flew past his old eyes as another streak of color among the vast reach of pure white, seen in all directions. Each escape pod in the immediate area had already been launched or destroyed, and the admiral ran towards the next section, his heart pounding like never before. Stopping was the only thought in mind, yet he could not and did not. Each second wasted was another second for the Covenant to rid of more Humans, he thought. More Humans that would fight back take a life or more, never give in. Yet his heart pounded his chest as though ready to escape, and run itself to the escape pod instead of its host body. The thought almost brought a smile to his face, but no effort was made in the direction of humor, only of life, and sustaining it.