The Angels of Nova Terra

The Angels of Nova Terra

Prologue- 13 days after invasion

The night sky was alight. In the distance, the tall, domed government building of Emisfero was highlighted against a backdrop of flames and explosions. A hard rain was falling across the landscape, making the image hazy and barely visible. On a small cliff ledge, a squad of five soldiers were watching the building burn. All but one were wearing helmets, the one without a helmet bore multiple scars, evidence of being in the war for a long time. He was sitting next to a small radio, waiting for the voice of Commander Anderson to filter through the static. The other four patiently awaited weapons at the ready. Although it would have been hard for an enemy to spot them. Wearing completely black uniforms and sitting still was aided by the rain lowering visibility.

“Come in Captain? Captain?” The figure without a helmet suddenly moved. He reached for the radio.

“Commander. I’m reading you loud and clear. Have orders come through yet?” There was a whirring sound. The Captain looked up, seeing a large purple object hovering above them. A blindingly bright light shot down from the bottom of the ship, and it zoomed past them, heading towards the explosions and sounds of war.

“Yes Captain. This comes straight from the top. In the suburbs, it looks like the Covenant is drilling into the ground. Looking for something. Find out what and find a way to report to me when you do. Is that clear?”

“Crystal. Over and out.” The captain picked up the radio and put it in his pocket. He turned to his squad. Soldiers who had fought with him for as long as he could remember. People he could trust with his life. “Move out.” The four soldiers all moved as one, into the jungle that led down to the city. The Captain crouched next to his helmet. He held it, staring into the visor at his own, watery reflection. Scarred, tired, emotionless. He spun it 180 degrees and slotted it over his head. The world took on a greenish hue, and he was following after his squad. They moved like ghosts. Silent and watchful. But ever present.

Interesting. Will like to see more.

Cool......Ghosts?! GRAW GHOSTS?! HALO HAXXOR!!!

It's good. I want more!

I like it

Thanks

Very nice, Im anxious to see how this story will progress.

Thanks, and I have the new chapter ready now.

Chapter One: Fire everything - The day of the invasion



Half of Terra Nova was bathed in sunlight. Illuminated against the darkness of space, and yet the other half was dark. The only light on the dark half came from the cities. From the UNSC Destroyer, Break of Day, Captain Luca Garcia stared down at the planet. His patrol had just started and he was anxious to get it over with, and get back to his family planet side. As per usual, his patrol consisted of circling the moon, scanning for anything on its surface, and turn back to Space Station Roma (Or the SSR as it’s known). The SSR would then send their report through to acknowledge that the Break of Day and its escort have completed a patrol. Luca held his gaze at his home continent bathed in darkness, aglow with little circles of light that represented cities. He turned to the crew on the bridge. Many of them lazily working, they knew as well as he did that the patrol would be just like the last hundred they’d done. “Ensign Bocelli? What is the status of the ship?”

“Everything’s running fine sir. No problems on my end.”

“Good. Lieutenant Hanno? How long until we reach orbit of the moon?”

“Should be coming close right about now.”

“Excellent. Marcus? Start the scanners now, cover every inch.”

“Aye, aye sir!”

Luca pressed a few buttons and changed the viewscreen view from Terra Nova, to Terra Luna. The moon was large, very large. It was covered in hundreds of tiny and big craters, grey and pretty much featureless. Luca turned to his crew. “Okay, estimated time for completion of the scan?”

“Two hours sir, if we continue at this speed.”

“Good… Wake me when you need me.”

“Sir?”

“Do I need to be here to scan? If you see anything suspicious or of importance, come and get me. Until then, be at ease.” Luca walked out of the bridge, the door sliding shut behind him.

Luca’s dreams were riddled with war. Death and fighting was all around him. He was a marine, standing in a uniform he hadn’t worn for twelve years. An assault rifle in his hands, the weight was familiar and welcoming. Around him were screams, explosions. He found himself unable to move, people were dying around him, the sky was red, and the enemy was close. A dark figure stood above him. He raised his rifle, he fired but the bullets just went through the monster. He screamed, helpless as he was killed.

“SIR!” Luca awoke with a start.

“What is it?!” He said, quite drowsy.

“Covenant, lots of their ships just exited slipspace. We need your orders. NOW!” That woke him up. He leapt from his small bed and ran all the way up the bridge, personnel running to their various combat stations. When he entered the bridge, every eye turned on him. It was quite unnerving. He sat in his chair and read the reports.

“Ensign? Manoeuvre us away from the moon; we need to close up to SSR and the Attica fleet.” Bocelli nodded in reply and began typing in commands on his console. The ship began altering course, slowly. Luca activated the radio on his command console. “This is Captain Luca, from the UNSC Destroyer, Break of Day; I want you to go ahead of us in case we don’t make it back. Is that clear fighter wing?”

“Acknowledged Sir! Heading back to Roma Station ASAP.” The Longsword escort accompanying the Destroyer broke away and zoomed ahead of the ship. Luca ordered images of the Covenant be displayed on his viewscreen. An image flickered into place, around 20 Covenant ships. There were a lot of Frigates, most likely holding vehicles. Their fighting force consisted of 5 Cruisers and 2 Battleships. They would cause a problem, and with them were 8 Carriers. They would be holding a wealth of infantry.

“Their Frigates are a lot faster. Lieutenant Gores, arm the MAC, and prep the Archer pods.”

“Yes Captain.” There was a few seconds delay. “Done. Weapons free Sir?”

“Yes, they come in range, fire everything.” There was a dull thump in the hull as the MAC was ready to fire.

“Marcus, get targeting solutions on the lead Frigates, they’re gaining.”

“Done. The nearest one is thirty seconds out. And we’re almost out of the disruption of the room. Another minute or two, and we can transmit back.”

“Let’s hope we survive another minute.” The time passed slowly in the bridge. The thirty seconds felt like 30 hours. During this time, there was complete silence, until a shrill beeping cut the air.

“Lead Frigate has been targeted, firing MAC in three… Two…” There was a second dull thump, a little harder than the first, and the MAC round streamed through Space straight at the Frigate. “Sir, energy spikes detected on the Frigate. It’s opening fire.” Luca stayed silent, and watched the silent progression of the tungsten round. Archer missiles suddenly burst to life from the pods. Hundreds of them streaming towards the frigate, just behind the MAC round.

The MAC round hit the side of the Frigate, the lateral guns of the ship, which were glowing red, suddenly dimmed to a cool blue colour. The Frigate was knocked backwards off path, spinning slowly. Its shields shimmered and died rather quickly. Then, there were little blossoms of light all over its hull. When the fire cleared, the ship was a wreck. Luca focused his attention on the second Frigate.

It had overtaken its unfortunate ally and was almost within range. Its guns began glowing, as it readied a very lethal plasma salvo. “What’s the charge on the MAC?” He turned to Gores, his face covered in sweat.

“20% Sir, rising at a rate of 20% a minute.”

“That’s too long… Divert all power to the engines. We need more speed.”

“Aye, aye Sir!” Bocelli drained power from the MAC and flooded it into the engines. The ship picked up speed.

“Energy spikes! She’s firing!” Luca gripped the chair tight, his knuckles turning white. Sweat dripped down his face, and he stared wide eyed at the alien vessel. There was a slight flash of light, and the plasma was lancing towards them. “Evasive manoeuvres!” The ship lurched diagonally, steadily moving up. The plasma filled the viewscreen. Luca clenched his teeth, his life flashed before his eyes. But there was nothing. No explosion, no darkness. Just silence. Then, he heard Bocelli sigh. “They missed Captain.”

Luca breathed a sigh of relief. “Establish contact, right now. We can’t count on being that lucky again.”

“Patching us through ASAP.” There was a beeping in the bridge, the next few moments passed breathlessly. The tension in the artificial air was palpable. Suddenly, a voice rang clear in the bridge.

“This is Commander Anderson of Station Roma. What’s happening? Anything on the moon?” Luca spoke up, knowing they could hear him through the console radio.

“Nothing on the moon Sir. But there was something else. A Covenant fleet. Numbering about 20 ships, many of them look like troop carriers. I suspect we have an invasion coming.”

“Roger that. Get back to the fleet, we’re prepping defences.” Luca was about to shout an order, until one of his Ensigns spoke up.

“Umm, Captain? I’m picking up multiple small vessels. Launching from the lead frigates. They look like boarding craft. What the hell do they wanna board us for?!”

“I don’t know Ensign. But we’re about to find out. Get the marines ready, keep moving at all costs! Get energy back in the MAC! They aren’t taking us without a fight. Target those boarding craft with archers.”

About time.