Reporting for duty

Chapter 0: A Whole New World

3rd person

In 2552, humanity was pushed to the brink of extinction by the alien alliance known as the Covenant. The outer colonies have been glassed, their surfaces reduced to nothing but black glass. The navy's strength reduced to a fraction of what it once was. But not all hope is lost; in the depths of Reach, an artifact was found. An artifact was discovered that had the power to turn ships into men, their power enough to rival the largest Covenant warships. Humanity rushed to build a new fleet consisting of these men, known as the 7th fleet. It consisted of its flagship and oldest ships, the Marathon class heavy cruiser Lord's Wit.

Along with him were the two Paris class heavy frigates, the S/N and the Steelwing. A single Halberd class destroyer, the Nighthawk. Lastly were the two Gladius corvettes, the Slingshot and Rockheart. These six vessels were able to match some of the Covenant's battle groups. Though unknown to the UNSC was that the Covenant had procured their own artifact of the exact nature. They constructed a fleet to hunt down the 7th, known as members of the Silent Shadow. Now dispatched on their holy crusade to strike down these heretics. A battle that is soon to begin.

S/N's perspective

S/N: "Steelwing come on, you know it would be cool."

I asked my brother ship while sitting back in my captain's chair as we were cruising in formation. The fleet was forming a sphere around the flagship as per protocol.

Steelwing: "Yes, it would be cool if we could find a covy fleet to stomp, but that's not the mission."

He said before an argent voice cut in on our conversation.

Nighthawk: "You know what would be great?"

S/N: "What would that be, Nighthawk?"

Nighthawk: "If you both shut your traps. Christ, you two won't shut up!"

He snapped as I sat up straight, a growl escaping my lips before I spoke.

S/N: "You want to go! I'll come over there right now!"

Nighthawk: "Oh, you're on frigate!"

Lord's Wit: "Both if you cut it out or else."

The gruff voice of Lord's Wit sounded through the comms and shut us both up.

Lord's Wit: "Thank you. Slingshot, Rockheart, how are you two holding up?"

The two youngest ships boosted their engines and flanked Lord's Wit. Both physically and mentally, they acted like ten-year-olds. Nighthawk, me, and Steelheart are more like our twenties and lastly, Lord's Wit being the oldest, looked at least forty.

Slingshot: "Ready for orders, sir!"

Stoneheart: "Yeah, let's complete this mission and get home!"

Lord's Wit: "Good, and I can assume you three are fine considering your little 'Outburst'?"

S/N: "Yes, sir MAC is primed and ready."

Lord's Wit: "Good."

We flew in formation for a couple more minutes before our sensors started to blare loudly.

Steelwing: "Sir, we got incoming. Orders?"

Lord's Wit: "Get to combat-ready, and prepare to go rigged if it starts to get hot."

All: "Copy that."

The UNSC vessels readied their weapons, MAC guns started to spin to life as the turret emplacements turned their guns to the oncoming threat. Lord's Wit and Steelwing launched their compliments of Longswords as the Covenant fleet came out of slip space. It was comparable to our fleet as it had a single ccs-battlecruiser, four heavy covenant corvettes, and a pair of light corvettes.