Chapter 90

"Ma'am, the civilians have been successfully evacuated from the planet and the ground defenses are ready" Reported an ensign to Rear Admiral Rose, who was in command of the defensive effort above Andesia. A sigh of relief escaped her lips as she heard the report.

"Good" Replied Rose as she inputted a command to her center console which contacted the Admiral leading the fleet of Dreadnoughts.

A few seconds later Rear Admiral Freemans avatar appeared in front of her "Admiral Freeman, we are about to initiate our retreat, can you cover us"

"Copy that, Admiral Rose," replied Freeman. "We will cover your retreat. Godspeed."

As the words left Freeman's mouth, the fleet of Dreadnoughts moved into position, shielding the retreating ships from the onslaught of Covenant fire. The Sojourner-class dreadnoughts took the brunt of the attacks, their advanced shielding systems absorbing the deadly plasma blasts from the Covenant ships which began to focus fire on the Dreadnoughts.

The remaining Orbital defense platforms continued to fire on the Covenant fleet before they got destroyed by the overwhelming number of Covenant ships.

The original fleet of 50 UNSC ships was reduced to just 25 ships, losing half to the massive Covenant fleet, but before the ships were destroyed majority of the crew had managed to make it to escape pods. In exchange the Covenant lost 84 ships with more damaged due to the explosion of nearby ships.

Not only did the Covenant upgrade their shields but also their Plasma weapons which caused more damage than they did in the beginning of the war. Covenant ships could now resist a few hits from the Dreadnoughts but would eventually be destroyed once their shields failed.

After a few minutes had passed, Admiral Rose's fleet had lined up and jumped to Warp speed retreating from the battle. Seeing that the fleet jump away Admiral Freeman also commanded his fleet to retreat as the Covenant had taken down a few of the Dreadnoughts shields.

Before any Dreadnought got destroyed, Admiral Freeman was able to flee leaving the rest of the defense to the ground forces and the few remaining orbital defense platforms.

Seeing the human fleet retreat, Imperial Admiral Xytan 'Jar Wattinree ordered his fleet to take position above the planet. However, as they were getting in position it was detected that the planet was shielded.

As they inched closer to the planet, a shimmering blue barrier materialized before them, encasing the entire world in a protective shell. The Covenant fleet stopped, their purple vessels hovering at the edge of the shield.

"Impossible," Xytan 'Jar Wattinree muttered silently to himself. The humans had certainly been inventive. This was an unprecedented maneuver, one that he hadn't anticipated. His attention then shifted towards the surface of the planet, encased within the defensive shield. He knew that he would have to break through before they could proceed with the invasion.

Meanwhile, on the surface of Andesia, ground forces were being deployed. Men and women dressed in armor bearing the insignia of UNSC were stationed in key locations all over the planet. The Main command center was set up around the planet's teleporter as that would be their only way to receive reinforcements.

Within the base, a small Assembler was constructed to provide a continues supply of MCUs, weapons, Fighters, Bombers, and various other ground vehicles to continue supporting the defense.

All around the planet various UNSC bases were set up to protect key areas around the planet and force the Covenant to spread their forces out. Each base was armed with turrets, artillery cannons, anti-air systems, and a defensive shield deployed around the base. Within the middle would be a teleporter leading back to the main teleporter located at the command center.

These teleporters were only connected to the main teleporter on the planet and would allow for reinforcements to be deployed all around the world at a moment's notice.

The person leading the defense the defense of Andesia was Lieutenant General Holland. He had a total of 4 million men and women supported by 10 million MCUs whose number would continue to rise with the support of the small Assembler. The number of invading enemy forces was unknown, but he knew from experience that it would be a lot. However, they would hold the planet for as long as they needed to.

Back above the planet, the Covenant fleet had positioned themselves above the planet and initiated the bombardment of the shields while the Ion cannons from the surface continued to fire on Covenant ships in orbit.

Imperial Admiral Xytan 'Jar Wattinree watched as dozens of his ships were disabled or destroyed, their hulls shattered by the powerful Ion cannons. Yet he remained calm as soon enough the humans would not be able to hide behind their shield.

Meanwhile, in the bowels of the shield generator complex, Chief Engineer Darren Lane watched as the energy readings spiked with each Covenant bombardment. His hand hovered over the emergency override button. His job was to ensure that the shield held for as long as possible, buying the ground forces precious time. As he monitored the readings, he could see that the shield was dropping fast from the hundreds of Covenant ships bombarding the planet.

As expected, the shield eventually gave out after a few more minutes of holding on. A wave of energy surged across the sky, fizzling out into a hazy blur as the shield disappeared.

Imperial Admiral Xytan 'Jar Wattinree's eyes glinted with satisfaction as he saw the human shield fail. "Prepare for ground assault," he commanded. His subordinates scurried to obey, launching thousands of drop pods and transports filled with troops towards the planet.

The UNSC Air Force was already prepared and had their Fighters move to intercept. The Covenant drop pods had breached the surface and were falling from the sky like rain. Flak and anti-air rounds were fired at the pods destroying a few of them before they managed to hit the ground, but there were too many.

As a ground battle began to rage on the surface of Andesia, Axel who was commanding the 2nd Fleet was currently above the world of Tribute, one of the colonized worlds located within the Epsilon Eridani system. The Covenant had made a mistake by attacking the Epsilon Eridani system as it was home to the UNSCs central command and main military production planet, Reach in addition to other worlds such as Beta Gabriel and Circumstance.

The Covenant invaded the system with 400 ships compared to the UNSCs 600 ships. This was the only battle currently going on that the UNSC had outnumbered the Covenant ships and not the other way around.

And as predicted it was a bloodbath as the UNSC Fleet under the command of Axel took a strategic formation charged straight at the Covenant Fleet.

With Axel at the helm, the UNSC fleet engaged in a swift and brutal retaliation. Onboard his flagship, Axel watched as this was the biggest space battle that he had been a part of, and he wanted to make sure that there was no mistakes made costing them more lives than needed. He scanned over the tactical display, plotting and counter-plotting maneuvers in his mind even as he gave out rapid orders.

"Fire MAC cannons at their command ship," he ordered. The MAC Cannons on his ship lit up as 4 rounds were fired at the Covenant command ship. Each round tearing through space leaving a trail of bright light behind them as they closed in on their target.

Once they hit, the Covenant command ship had exploded, damaging other nearby Covenant vessels and causing a drop in morale as the Fleetmaster, and his flagship were just destroyed in an instant.

"Focus all fire on their midrange vessels," he ordered, his eyes never leaving the virtual battlefield displayed before him. "And have bombers to harass their rear flank."

As he spoke, a wave of UNSC bombers escorted by fighters descended upon the disorganized Covenant fleet. The bombers, loaded with heavy payloads, left a fiery trail in their wake as they swooped beneath the underbellies of the Covenant cruisers, unloading their explosives. The rear flank was immediately thrown into chaos as the precision strikes ripped through hulls and sent ships spiraling out of formation.

Axel saw the first signs of victory. The Covenant lines were disintegrating, their command structure nonexistent due to the loss of their Fleetmaster's ship. Victory was already in their hands, all they had to do was finish off the remaining Covenant ships before they tried to retreat.