Chapter 73

The Covenant fleet had retreated from the battle to an unknown location in space. But as they entered slipspace, a few Despair-class fighters had managed to follow the Covenant ships through their slipspace jump.

Vice Admiral Hoods orders were to annihilate the Covenant that had attacked Actium, and he planned to carry out those orders until the end. The ground troops had landed on the planet and begun bringing it back under UNSC control, giving Vice Admiral Hood the opportunity to pursue the Covenant fleet.

A few hours after following the Covenant fleet into slipspace, the fighters had popped back up on the radar of the ship which showed them somewhere in unexplored space.

"Sir, the fighters have just popped back up on the radar but...." reported the navigation officer.

"Where are they at?" asked Vice Admiral Hood.

"They are somewhere in unknown space, Sir, an area that is not on any of our star charts, but we have the coordinates" Stated the navigation officer.

"Alright, plot a course to those coordinates." stated Vice Admiral Hood as he turned to the ship's AI. "The 4 Dreadnoughts will chase the enemy because we are faster, while the rest of the fleet will remain here and assist the ground troops"

The onboard ship AI relayed his orders, while the navigation officer input the coordinates into the console. Once he was done, he primed the engines and awaited the final nod from Vice Admiral Hood.

Vice Admiral Hood gave the final nod and the ship entered slipspace for a few minutes before they arrived at their destination. As soon as they arrived, they found the Covenant fleet engaging the fighters that had followed them through slipspace.

Vice Admiral Hood gave orders to the onboard AI to start firing at the Covenant ships while he gave orders to the other Dreadnoughts to launch all fighters. "Scramble all fighters, prioritize their engines and Plasma cannons to disable their ships." he ordered. While he was ordered to annihilate the Covenant fleet, how he went about doing it was left up to him by Axel. And he saw this as a chance to capture a few Covenant to bring back for questioning.

As his orders were carried out, the Dreadnoughts had targeted and disabled a few of the Covenant ships already as the millions of Despair-class fighters kept the Covenant fighters busy and targeted the engines and Plasma weapons on each ship.

To call it a battle would be wrong as it had turned into a one-sided beat down as the 4 Forerunner Dreadnoughts appeared to be invincible compared to the Covenant ships. Even the Covenant battlecruisers couldn't do anything to damage the Forerunner Dreadnoughts.

The technology difference was too much even if the Covenant technology was higher than that of regular UNSC ships. The battle lasted a mere 30 Minutes as the Covenant had no chance to escape and were ultimately defeated.

During the first battle above Actium the Covenant had lost 15 ships before the retreated leaving the fleet with 45 ships remaining. Now during this battle, the Covenant fleet lost 20 ships which were destroyed due to taking too much damage, leaving the remaining 25 ships disabled.

Onboard his command ships Vice Admiral Hood was standing in front of an MCU who held the rank of Captain and was part of the UNSC marines. Originally MCUs were ranked and considered part of the UNSC navy, but because of their wide range of abilities, they were split up between the different branches.

MCUs in the UNSC Army and Marines could be regular soldiers apart of a platoon or squad, or an officer leading its own platoon of MCUs assisting other ground forces.

Within the UNSC Air force, the MCUs were starting to be used as pilots to increase the amount of air support available to ground forces and increase the UNSCs ability to establish total air control over a specified region of the battlefield.

Within ONI they were mainly used as security personnel, support active agents during special assignments, and assist during special operations. Lastly was the brand-new branch, Spartan Operations. Since the branch was mainly for Spartans, MCUs weren't given roles where they lead a squad of Spartans since the Spartan-IIIs were far stronger than them. Instead, they were used in support roles to assist Spartans on the frontlines.

In front of Vice Admiral Hood stood Spark, the marine MCU with the rank of Captain. "Captain, I want you to capture any Covenant that you can, but you are allowed to shoot those that resist, just make sure to capture the most high-ranking Covenant personnel." ordered Vice Admiral Hood. He was already aware of the capabilities of the MCUs and knew that each one of them knew the difference between a regular Covenant soldier and a high ranking one.

"Copy that Admiral, I'll make sure to go easy on them" replied Spark as he turned around and boarded the shuttle which would take him to the first Covenant ship to board and take control of the ship. Shuttles from the other Dreadnoughts also departed as each Dreadnought had its own Battalions of MCUs.

Meanwhile back on Actium the Covenant ships that were in the planet's atmosphere had been taken down allowing for a full-frontal assault on the final Covenant positions. The Spartan-IIIs led the way with Marines and Army soldiers behind them while the Air force was overhead with their fighters and gunships.

The fighting had lasted for another week before all Covenant forces were either killed or taken prisoner. The Covenant had just lost another major battle which could lead to a chain reaction within the Covenant Empire that would either break it or severely hinder their ability to continue sending fleets into Human space.

Vice Admiral Hood had finished his capture of the remaining Covenant ships. They were obviously too damaged to bring back to Human space, so instead a salvage and research teams were sent to go through each of the ships data and find out important information.

A single Forerunner Dreadnought had remained near the destroyed Covenant fleet while the researchers and salvagers worked among the disabled Covenant ships.

Meanwhile, back on Reach Axel was informed about their victory over the Covenant and the successful defense of the planet. In response he was going to pay a personnel visit to Actium in the next few days to honor those who had fallen during the invasion and those who had risked their lives to defend the planet. At the same time, he would deliver a speech to the entirety of Humanity announcing yet another victory over the Covenant and how far they had come thanks to the hard work of each person.

However, before he would head to the planet, he stopped by to visit Catherine. Catherine was working in a lab located in the Eposz region of reach. The lab was created inside of a crashed forerunner vessel that was recently found. Within the lab Catherine had thought that they could find some useful data within the crashed vessel as this was the first time, they had encountered a crashed Forerunner vessel.

After spending weeks decrypting the data she had discovered navigation data which she figured could possibly lead to another shield world that could contain more data on the Flood or lead them to something else. When it came to the Forerunner navigational data there was never a guarantee of what it would be.

Axel had taken the elevator down to the facility as he was taken to where Catherine was at. Once he arrived in her lab, he waved the guards off to wait outside as he entered. As the doors closed Catherine walked up and tried to give him a peck on the cheek but he was too tall for her.

Seeing this Axel had leaned down as she planted a kiss on his cheek. "How has Miranda been?" was the first question she asked.

Axel responded, "I saw her yesterday and we worked on some of her homework. She didn't really need my help, but it was a nice opportunity to bond."

"I see," said Catherine as she looked down with a sad face. "I haven't seen her in a month, I'll need to go see her again, and stop prioritizing my work" stated Catherine. Unlike her Axel made time to see Miranda by delegating tasks to another person, while Catherine tried to do everything herself.

As they were talking another person walked into the room interrupting them. "I'm sorry Sir, I didn't know you were here" replied the person as she didn't know how to react to seeing Axel.

Axel extended his hand for a handshake and asked, "My apologies, I was just stopping by to look at some data. By the way, what's your name?"

She hesitated out of nervousness for moment before she grabbed his hand "I am Professor Ellen Anders; Dr. Halsey had recommended me to become a consultant and work with her on some important data." explained Anders.

"I see, she has mentioned your name before, and it is always with a note of respect," Axel replied, withdrawing his hand. "I trust you're finding the work as exciting as Catherine does?"

Anders nodded, a bit starstruck that somebody as important as him was showing interest in how she felt about what they were doing. "Yes, sir," she responded, "The data we're encountering is unlike anything I've ever seen before. I'm glad Dr. Halsey has brought me aboard."

Axel nodded approvingly. He turned to Catherine. "See, that's the spirit we need," he said lightly, throwing her a small smile. Catherine returned the smile with a nod, a silent acknowledgement of Anders' enthusiasm and dedication.

After exchanging pleasantries with Anders, she had showed him the data collected which gave them navigational data to some place located in uncharted space. "This is good, who knows what we will find if we go to these coordinates." stated Axel.

"I know, I dying to go and see what's out there" replied Catherine. Axel had seen that look on her face so many times and he knew that once she gets that face her mind tends to wonder and she forgets things that don't relate to her research.

"I already have a ship that will take you and your team to this location, it will be the UNSC Spirit of Fire led by Captain James Cutter that will take you to these coordinates" Replied Axel.

Catherine smiled at the comment. "It's always useful to have connections in high places," she said, playfully hitting his arm as she grinned.

"If you can make jokes, then you can remember to visit Miranda before you leave," Axel retorted in response to her humor with a small smile on his face.

Catherine gave a half-hearted salute and replied, "Yes Sir, I'll take care of it."

Seeing this Axel turned and headed for the door while saying, "Alright, I got things to do, Anders make sure she remembers to go and see Miranda." Said Axel as he reached the door.

"Yes, Sir I'll make sure she remembers" replied Anders as Axel left the room leaving the two of them alone.

"You know you can stop being so stiff, he's just one man" said Catherine to Professor Anders.

"That would be impossible, do you know how popular he is" Responded Anders. "I don't think a normal civilian like me who has never met him person can act calm when the most powerful person in the entirety of the UNSC walks into your work place."

"Better get used to it because he'll be around a lot while we work together," Catherine smirked. She was eager to witness their next interaction, finding it highly entertaining.