Chapter 36

Admiral Gardner addressed the members of the UNSC security council, stating firmly, "Let us begin. We have grave news to report."

Admiral Gardner's words hung heavy in the air as he addressed the group. "As we all know, our negotiations with the Covenant on Harvest were not successful a few days ago," he stated somberly, and the rest of the members nodded solemnly as they recalled the details from the report.

"Just a few hours ago we had lost contact with Harvest. I had received the message from Admiral Parangosky" Said Admiral Gardner as all eyes had turned to Admiral Parangosky.

Admiral Parangosky nodded as she began to explain "After the failed negotiations on Harvest the Covenant had retreated out of the system, or so we thought until we lost communications with them about 18 hours ago. I sent the message to Admiral Gardner since it seemed suspicious that after the recent events that we just lost communications with an entire colony" Explained Admiral Parangosky as she continued.

"However not even 30 minutes after sending the message, Admiral Woods contacted CENTCOM saying how it wasn't just a loss of Communications but the Covenant were attacking Harvest. So CENTCOM sent Battlegroup Yankee to investigate these claims but to also assist Admiral Woods if these claims of his were true"

Gardner moved his gaze from Parangosky to the holographic star map in the center of the table. Harvest's location blinked ominously. "And Battlegroup Yankee?" he asked, his voice steady despite the growing knot of unease in his stomach.

Admiral Parangosky's expression softened as she responded, "Initially, we had no contact with them for several hours. However, approximately four hours ago, we received messages from both Battlegroup Yankee and Admiral Woods' Battlegroup Tango reporting that they were forced to evacuate the planet and retreat due to the Covenant's advanced weaponry and ships. The report indicates that all colonists were able to escape, but there were some casualties during the evacuation process. At this time, the exact number of survivors is unknown."

The tension in the room rose noticeably, a ghostly fog of unease that latched onto every person present. The members of the UNSC Security Council were no strangers to conflict and disaster, but the scale of this recent event sent shudders through even the most hardened veterans. There first contact with Aliens and not even a Month had passed and they were now at war with them.

"So," Admiral Gardner said after a few painfully silent moments, "we can assume that the Covenant has declared war on humanity." The stark reality of his statement struck a chill into all present.

Silence filled the room once more until Admiral Parangosky spoke up again. "We are certain of it. The scale of such an assault is a clear declaration of war."

"If this is the case then we need to prepare a fleet to retake Harvest from the Covenant" Announced the Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Jackson.

General Black of the Marine Corps, General Stone of the Air Force, and General Graham of the Army all concurred with Admiral Jackson's statement. The aliens had initiated hostile actions towards them, leaving them with no choice but to retaliate in self-defense.

"How long will it take to prepare a joint operation to retake Harvest" Asked Admiral Gardner to Admiral Jackson.

"First we would have to get information on the battle between Battlegroup Tango, Battlegroup Yankee, and the Covenant fleet. Then by using that information we can get an idea of the enemies fleet strength and send a sizable force to destroy the Covenant forces and retake Harvest" Explained Admiral Jackson.

Admiral Gardner nodded hearing his answer "Alright, I'll contact Admiral Woods and ask him for the data on the battle"

"Once we have that I will be able to determine the exact time frame but as of now we don't have any information on the enemy" Added Admiral Jackson.

"That's a good idea Admiral Jackson, but also we need to decide on the rewards for the both Battlegroup Tango and Battlegroup Yankee as they did just save an entire colony from falling into enemy hands. And Admiral Woods would need to be commended for his foresight" Said Admiral Parangosky.

Admiral Gardner nodded "I agree, but we can't promote him yet so what shall we do" asked Admiral Gardner.

General Black was the first to speak on this matter "How about we issue letters of commendation for the Admirals and their battlegroups. And award medals to those involved"

"I agree with this proposal as we can't openly give them a ceremony since I'm sure we want to keep this a secret from the public. As much as I would like to openly commend them for their efforts, we can't risk this going public" Said General Graham.

The other members agreed with this statement since they didn't think that this conflict was that big enough to announce to the public. They had just lost a single colony and they didn't want to risk panic spreading throughout Earth and the Colonies.

"Alright, then it's settled, they Battlegroup Tango and Battlegroup Yankee will be commended and given medals for their efforts" Announced Admiral Gardner.

"Moreover, I am glad that you sent the message to Admiral Woods as well since I would not have thought that the planet was under attack" Said Admiral Gardner talking to Admiral Parangosky.

Admiral Parangosky scoffed at this statement "I didn't send Admiral Woods anything"

Admiral Gardner's eyebrows rose at this statement. knit together in confusion. "What? But you just said--"

"I said," she interrupted, her icy gaze fixed firmly on him, "that I sent the message to you, Gardner. Not Woods."

"So then how did he get the message" Asked Admiral Gardner.

"He probably intercepted it as it was sent something that I will speak with him about, but I am not surprised at this since for someone like him intercepting high priority messages is nothing. In fact he probably did it with an AI" Explained Admiral Parangosky.

Admiral Gardner's frown deepened. "That's a serious breach of security and protocol," he said.

"I agree," Admiral Parangosky said firmly, "But let's not forget, his quick actions saved countless lives. It doesn't excuse it, but it does put it into perspective."

General Stone chimed in, drumming his fingers on the table's surface. "In the meanwhile, we should increase our security measures to prevent any further unauthorized accesses from happening."

"I'll over look his actions for now but soon I will punish him for breaching the UNSC's security" Stated Admiral Gardner.

"Anyways I believe we all have work to do and preparations to make," Admiral Gardner announced, standing.

Everyone nodded in agreement, shuffling out of their seats and stepping away from the table. Admiral Gardner remained seated a moment longer, eyes tracing the holographic outline of Harvest which was now lost to them.

He didn't know how strong the Covenant were but the UNSC would not back down from a fight.

Meanwhile back to Axel who had already returned to Algolis. Transports had already arrived to take the Civilians to the inner colonies. Algolis wasn't exactly a planet capable of taking in hundreds of thousands of people, so they were to be taken to the inner colonies where there was an abundance of space and food for them.

Battlegroup Yankee led by Admiral Nicholas Holt was undergoing repairs since they didn't have energy shielding like Axel's battlegroup did. They had lost two ships during the battle while Axel had only lost a Frigate.

The other ships of Battlegroup Yankee had plasma burn marks on their hulls and some even had sections of the ship which were lost.

Luckily they could seal off sections of the ship so that they could go to Warp speed because if not then they would have been stuck since jumping at warp speed without sealing the open parts of the Hull would cause the ship to completely break apart once they entered warp speed.

It was also thinks to the improvements that Axel implemented with the Warp Drive. He made is so that ships built with a warp drive was also equipped with advanced ways to seal hull breaches in emergency situations.

Axel on the other hand was looking through the data he got during the battle to analyze how powerful of a reactor he would have to make to be able to power the ship's energy shields. Just one hit from Covenant Cruiser caused the ship's to drop tremendously. They only survived because of the fast recharge rate of the energy shields.

While he was busy with this he was contacted by Admiral Jackson commending him on his actions.

"Your quick thinking and resilience under fire has resulted in saved lives, Admiral Woods," he said. "While the loss of Harvest stings, the fact that we managed to evacuate so many is a testament to your capabilities. Because of this Battlegroup Tango will be receiving a commendation and awarded Medals for their actions."

"Thank you, Admiral," Axel responded.

"In the meantime the reason I called you was to request the data on the battle so that we can organize a force to retake Harvest from the Covenant" Requested Admiral Jackson.

"Of course, I'll send it right over" Said Axel as he ordered Ivan to send the data.

After a few seconds Admiral Jackson had received the data "Thank you Admiral, this data will help us plan this future operation to take back Harvest. Now I have pressing matters to get to and I'm sure you have things to do as well so I will leave you to it" Said Admiral Jackson as the holographic image of him disappeared.

Axel continued studying the data in order to come up with ways to improve the energy shielding and to potentially find a way to counter the Covenants Plasma torpedoes.