Chapter 325 — First Contact
The Covenant fleet entered the outer reaches of the Cascade system.
Forty-one vessels emerged from slipspace in formation, their massive hulls settling into position as their navigation systems recalculated the battlefield ahead.
At the center of the formation, protected by layers of escorts, traveled several of the fleet's largest vessels.
Aboard one of them, the Prophet of Regret sat upon his gravity throne.
The tactical display before him showed the system.
Cascade.
The human world that had already become an embarrassment.
Eight vessels had been sent previously.
Eight.
None had returned.
The flagship had been destroyed from within.
Its final report had contained almost nothing useful.
A human warrior had boarded it.
Nine minutes later, the vessel had exploded.
That was all the Covenant knew.
The final recordings from the flagship had shown the creature moving through its corridors, tearing through Covenant warriors and forcing its way toward the command section.
Then the transmission had ended.
The vessel had been destroyed shortly afterward.
Regret had watched the surviving footage himself.
He had replayed it more times than he cared to admit.
The creature was impossible.
Yet it existed.
And now Regret had come to see its destruction with his own eyes.
A Sangheili officer approached.
"Hierarch."
Regret turned slightly.
"We have entered the system."
"Human activity?"
The officer glanced at the tactical display.
"Confirmed."
The display expanded.
One blue marker appeared.
Then another.
Then another.
The number continued increasing.
Regret leaned forward.
"How many?"
The Sangheili hesitated.
"Forty vessels."
Silence.
Regret looked back at the display.
"Forty?"
"Confirmed, Holy One."
The number was already strange enough.
The previous intelligence had not indicated anything close to this.
But that was not the only thing troubling the commander.
More information began appearing.
Energy signatures.
Shielding.
Weapons.
Reactor readings.
The officer's voice became more cautious.
"They are not standard human vessels."
Regret's mandibles tightened.
"Explain."
"Their energy signatures are unlike the ships recorded in our previous encounters. Several appear to possess defensive energy fields."
Regret turned toward him.
"Shields?"
"Yes."
The word carried weight.
Humans did not have shields.
Not like this.
Another report appeared.
"Several weapons are producing energy signatures similar to Covenant plasma systems."
Regret's expression hardened.
"They have taken Covenant technology."
"We believe so."
For several seconds, Regret stared at the display.
The humans had somehow transformed.
The colony was no longer the insignificant world that had appeared in the original intelligence.
And yet forty ships remained only forty ships.
Regret's confidence returned.
"More vessels do not make them less human."
The Sangheili officer said nothing.
Regret looked toward the system again.
"This world has embarrassed the Covenant once."
His eyes narrowed.
"It will not do so again."
Back on Halcyon's Reach, the first warning reached the fleet.
"Long-range contact."
Captain Elena Reyes looked up from her command display.
The bridge immediately became quieter.
Cross turned toward her.
"Covenant?"
Reyes nodded.
"Confirmed."
The tactical display expanded.
Red markers began appearing at the outer edge of the system.
One.
Five.
Ten.
The number continued climbing.
Cross watched the total.
"Forty-one."
Reyes stared at the display.
Forty-one ships.
She had known they were coming.
Everyone had.
But seeing the number displayed in front of her was different.
This was no longer a projection.
No longer an estimate.
They were here.
"How far out?"
"Still outside weapons range."
Reyes nodded.
"Signal the fleet."
The communications officer turned toward her.
"Message?"
"All vessels maintain assigned formation. No one advances without authorization."
The order spread through the network.
Across the growing fleet, ships adjusted their positions.
Frigates moved forward.
Larger vessels held the center.
Heavier ships remained farther back.
The formation slowly became a defensive wall.
Reyes watched the tactical display.
Thirty-eight.
Then thirty-nine.
Forty.
Forty human vessels now surrounded Cascade.
Not long ago, the idea would have been absurd.
Now it was reality.
Cross glanced toward her.
"A day ago, we were still wondering whether the reports were even real."
Reyes looked toward the fleet outside.
"They're real."
She paused.
"And now we're going to find out whether they're enough."
The fleet continued moving.
Inside the command networks of the forty vessels, voices overlapped.
Navigation officers checked positioning.
Weapons officers activated targeting systems.
Engineering crews monitored reactors.
Damage-control teams moved into their assigned positions.
The new ships were still unfamiliar.
Some officers still had to think before using functions that experienced crews would normally know instinctively.
But they had JARVIS.
They had Cortana.
And they had something else the old UNSC fleet had never possessed.
Hope.
Hope that, for the first time, they could meet the Covenant in space and actually defeat them.
The AIs were continuously synchronizing the ships, sharing targeting data, sensor readings, and tactical information across the fleet.
Targeting information passed from vessel to vessel.
Sensor data was combined.
Threat assessments updated.
Possible engagement routes were calculated.
For the first time, the newly created fleet was beginning to behave as something more than a collection of individual ships.
It was becoming a single formation.
Reyes watched the tactical display update.
"JARVIS."
"Yes, Captain?"
"How are the fleet's formations holding?"
"Within acceptable parameters."
"Any significant deviations?"
"No."
Reyes nodded.
"Good."
She looked toward Cross.
"How's the crew?"
Cross glanced toward the stations.
"Better."
"Better?"
"They're nervous."
Reyes understood.
"But they're working."
That mattered more.
She looked through the forward viewport.
Nothing was visible yet.
Only stars.
Somewhere beyond them, forty-one Covenant ships were approaching.
The Covenant fleet continued forward.
Regret stood before his tactical display while the human formation slowly came into clearer view.
The vessels were maintaining their positions.
They were not scattering.
They were not retreating.
They were not attempting to hide behind Cascade.
Instead, they were forming a line between the Covenant fleet and the planet.
Regret narrowed his eyes.
"They are preparing for a direct engagement."
The Sangheili commander nodded.
"It appears so."
"Why?"
The officer studied the formation.
"To prevent us from reaching the planet."
Regret stared at the human ships.
He had studied the reports from the previous engagement.
At the time, Cascade had possessed no fleet capable of contesting the Covenant in orbit. Instead, the Covenant had been forced to fight around the planet's defenses. The massive Planetary Defense Lasers had made maintaining a close orbital formation too dangerous, preventing the Covenant from simply positioning its ships above the world and bombarding it into glass.
That had forced the Covenant to bring the fighting closer to the surface.
Now there were forty human warships standing between the Covenant fleet and the planet.
Not this many ships.
Not these weapons.
Not these shields.
Something had changed.
Regret narrowed his eyes.
"Analyze their formation."
The command officer quickly complied.
"Their heavier vessels are positioned toward the center. Smaller ships are forming the outer elements."
Regret considered it.
"A defensive formation."
"Yes."
Regret's eyes narrowed.
"They are trying to hold us at a distance."
He looked toward the planet.
"Then we will force them back."
On Halcyon's Reach, Reyes received the latest data.
"Captain."
Cross looked toward her.
"The Covenant formation is maintaining course."
"Are they changing anything?"
"Not yet."
Reyes studied the enemy formation.
It was disciplined.
Much more disciplined than she had expected.
The Covenant were not simply throwing ships forward.
They were maintaining a deliberate formation as they approached, their larger vessels protected behind layers of escorts.
She leaned back in her command chair.
"How long until visual range?"
Cross checked the navigation data.
"Several minutes."
The bridge fell quiet.
Everyone returned to their stations.
Reyes looked toward the weapons display.
Everything was ready.
Primary weapons.
Secondary batteries.
Point defense.
Shields.
All of it.
She still had never fired this ship in combat.
Neither had most of her crew.
But there would be no second chance to learn.
"JARVIS."
"Yes?"
"Give me the current shield status."
"One hundred percent."
"Weapons?"
"Ready."
"Reactor?"
"Stable."
Reyes took a slow breath.
"All right."
She looked toward the viewport.
"Let's do this."
The first Covenant vessels became visible.
At first, they were only points of light.
Then the shapes began resolving.
One ship.
Then another.
Then dozens.
The tactical display filled with red.
The fleet seemed enormous.
Cross stared at it.
"That's..."
He stopped.
Reyes understood.
There was no need to finish.
Forty-one Covenant ships now hung across the stars.
The sight was different from looking at a number.
These were actual warships.
Reyes stared at it.
"Everyone stay focused."
The words were calm.
Measured.
But her own heartbeat had increased.
She had commanded ships before.
She had fought battles before.
But nothing like this.
Not with an entire fleet between her and the enemy.
Not with Cascade directly behind her.
She looked at the planet below.
Then back at the Covenant.
"Hold formation."
On the Covenant side, their own crews were seeing the human fleet clearly.
There were more ships than expected.
The fleet looked organized.
Its formation was disciplined.
Its vessels were strange.
A Sangheili officer reported:
"Energy shielding confirmed."
Regret's attention sharpened.
"All of them?"
"Most."
Another report followed.
"Human vessels are also displaying weapons signatures that resemble Covenant plasma systems."
Regret's expression hardened.
"So."
He stared at the human fleet.
"They must have a Covenant vessel that survived the previous engagement."
He clenched his fist.
"They recovered it."
His eyes narrowed.
"And reverse-engineered its technology."
For a moment, Regret said nothing.
Then he looked toward Cascade.
"This planet..."
His voice became colder.
"It must be destroyed completely."
Back aboard the Covenant command vessel, Regret watched the distance shrink.
The human fleet was still holding.
He wondered why.
Perhaps they believed their new weapons were enough.
Perhaps they believed their defenses could withstand the Covenant.
Regret almost laughed.
Humans had always been arrogant.
Even when they were losing.
The Sangheili commander turned toward him.
"Hierarch."
Regret looked at him.
"We are approaching weapons range."
"Prepare every vessel."
The command passed through the fleet.
Weapons systems began powering up.
Plasma batteries charged.
Energy weapons came online.
Fighter bays opened.
The Covenant formation adjusted.
Humanity waited.
Regret stared at the world ahead.
Cascade.
And somewhere on that world was the warrior who had humiliated the Covenant.
His eyes narrowed.
"This time," he said quietly, "there will be no escape."
The two fleets continued approaching.
The distance fell.
Thousands of kilometers.
Hundreds.
Then less.
The final reports began arriving on both sides.
Weapons ready.
Shields ready.
Fleets ready.
Regret looked toward the tactical display.
"All vessels ready."
The Sangheili commander bowed.
"Yes, Holy One."
Regret stared at Cascade.
For a moment, there was silence.
Then he raised one hand.
"Fire."
Across the Covenant fleet, weapons activated.
Plasma batteries discharged.
Energy weapons erupted.
Thousands of weapons fired into the darkness at once.
A massive wave of Covenant fire raced toward the human fleet.
~~~
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