Inside the massive armory of the New Epoch-class carrier:
"Teams Three and Four! We need reinforcements in Hangar One—get over there now!"
"All available hands, go too! Damn, those Brutes down there are going berserk."
Wearing exoskeletons and grey-and-yellow protective suits, the logistics staff bustled about, handling various tasks with urgent efficiency. In the repair section, some crew members were working hard to patch up blood-stained Mark IV power armor and ODST weapons and equipment. Judging by their conversations, it was clear that a fierce planetary battle was raging beneath the carrier, now orbiting the planet.
The Mark IV was the hallmark of Atlas's elite AECS units, and the ODSTs were among Atlas's best as well. But the fact that both veteran forces were sustaining heavy losses indicated just how formidable the Covenant's resistance was in this star system.
As the logistics crew worked, a squad of Thunder Warriors—thirty towering, heavily armored Astartes prototypes—stood in a corner of the armory, assisted by mechanical arms as they equipped their custom bolters and Titan power armor. These hulking figures were even larger and bulkier than the renowned Salamanders. Their armor was decorated in black and gold, with white crests and ornamental dragon claws on their helmets and pauldrons, making them look similar to "Imperial Guard."
Without any self-awareness and reliant on psionic commands, they silently awaited their "master"—Samuel Young—to finish suiting up in his own powered armor. Due to his impressive height of over five meters, over a dozen support staff and additional mechanical arms were required to complete the procedure. Yet, with Atlas's efficiency, it wasn't long before he was ready.
Stepping off the platform, Young took the Emperor's Sword and the Emperor's Claw from a robotic arm, hanging the sword at his side and fitting the claw onto his left hand. He then led the thirty Thunder Warriors through the armory, heading toward the nearest drop bay.
The armory fell into brief silence at the sight of Young. Now clad in his own custom black-and-gold Titan armor, his 5.4-meter frame presented a powerful and imposing figure, dwarfing even the exoskeletons operated by logistics staff. Beyond the visual impact, the employees were keenly aware that their CEO hadn't been "in the field" in quite some time. The last time he had led a battle was during the assault on the demon Maedo when Atlas first entered Universe 07. After that, he had mostly taken on a managerial role, giving primarchs and other new talent opportunities to lead.
But with the current battle escalating, Young chose to personally intervene to minimize losses. As soon as the logistics staff recovered from the initial shock, they returned to their tasks, restoring the bustling sounds of the armory.
Moments later, Young and the Thunder Warriors reached the drop bay, each taking a seat in an Astartes-specific drop pod. Due to Young's enormous build, he required a drop pod to himself.
With a sequence of beeps, yellow warning lights began to flash in the bay, accompanied by shrill alarms. Ground crew gripped nearby railings and handles to brace themselves, despite being secured in airtight suits and tethered for safety. As the alarms faded, signaling the pressurization of the drop bay, the floor's blast doors slid open.
With a sharp hiss, six drop pods shot down the launch rails, propelled into the vacuum of space. Seated in the central pod, Young could see through his heavily shielded observation window the Atlas and Elite fleets engaged in a full-scale firefight with a Covenant armada that outnumbered them ten to one, with over two thousand ships. To evade the Covenant's punishing energy projectors, each Covenant ship maintained a minimum distance of 200 kilometers, preventing a single beam from wiping out multiple vessels at once.
Underneath the pods, the sunlit surface of a habitable planet, blue and vibrant, came into view. This star system served as one of the Covenant's key shipyards and mining outposts, bolstering the formidable planetary and orbital defenses. If Young's forces could capture it, the power of the Prophets and Brutes over the Covenant Empire would be crippled, pushing them to the brink of total collapse.
However, the primary planet, located in the system's third orbit, was heavily fortified. The planet alone held over four hundred million Covenant troops, with Brutes, averaging 2.8 meters tall, making up more than half of the forces. The Covenant had concentrated its resources as its empire receded, bringing all their might to bear against the superior warships and ground forces of the human-Elite alliance.
On the ground, adult Astartes held a clear advantage over any Covenant species in close combat, yet even they struggled against the Covenant's relentless "human wave tactics." Generally, each six-man squad of Astartes was supported by two to four platoons of AECS troops or about two hundred armed clone soldiers. Occasionally, armored battalions of updated Titan and Hunter main battle tanks would shield multiple Astartes squads. Yet, despite these reinforcements, the sheer scale of the Covenant forces left Young's fleet stretched thin.
Young's contingent of 700 Astartes, elite warriors selected from among the first generation of Ultramarines and Dark Angels, was formidable but not invincible against an overwhelming horde of two hundred million Brutes, most equipped with personal energy shields. In total, the Atlas fleet carried only about two million ground forces, while the Elite fleet, with similar ship numbers, fielded six million ground troops, a third of whom were Elites.
The staggering disparity in numbers, combined with the need to capture crucial facilities—shipyards, armories, and fuel storage depots—meant the alliance had temporarily halted orbital bombardment. To break the Covenant ground forces, particularly their morale, Young intended to lead a direct assault.
As the drop pods shook violently, flames engulfed the windows from the intense atmospheric entry, signaling that Young and his Thunder Warriors had reached the black-out zone of reentry.
Meanwhile, on the planet's sunlit side:
Inside the eastern city adjacent to the Covenant shipyard, gunfire and explosions resounded through the streets. Covenant architecture, largely oval and columnar with silver and purple accents, looked somewhat similar to human city layouts. Blue and green plasma bolts streaked through the air, whizzing between buildings and alleys.
In the skies above, Covenant purple fighters and transports clashed with the black-painted air units of the human-Elite alliance. Human and Elite fighters had gained air superiority, pounding the Covenant air units. While the alliance hadn't yet secured full control of the near-orbit region, Atlas and Elite fighter squadrons had penetrated the chaotic naval battle above and descended to provide close air support for ground troops.
With Atlas having absorbed confidential UNSC and ONI research, along with Forerunner technology, its air fleet had undergone a complete overhaul in just two years. New iterations of Sparrowhawks, Pelican assault boats, and Banshees now boasted enhanced agility, speed, and range, powered by state-of-the-art engines and compact fusion reactors that had replaced the outdated models.
The new fighters were equipped with high-damage hardlight weapons, and their air-to-air and air-to-ground missiles remained metal-hydrogen and plasma-based. Recently, the Weapons Development Center had produced a batch of positron-anti-matter missiles for a few squadrons, pending performance testing.
If successful, these missiles could revolutionize Atlas's "tactical weapons," as antimatter annihilation converted mass to energy with near-perfect 100% efficiency, far surpassing nuclear fission or fusion. The energy from a gram of antimatter meeting a gram of matter equaled 42.8 kilotons of TNT, three times the yield of the Little Boy atomic bomb, and produced no residual radiation.
Additionally, Atlas had deployed its new "Longsword" interceptors, measuring 65 meters in length and 75 meters in width, armored with ship-grade alloys. The Longsword's armament included a 110mm triple-barrel hardlight rotary cannon, a 120mm plasma cannon on its underbelly, and twin 65mm Gauss cannons on each wing. Its ample payload capacity, along with agility comparable to Banshees, made it a versatile "bomb truck" ideal for various missions.
Currently:
A few Longswords launched a volley of metal-hydrogen missiles, streaking across the sky to strike the Covenant defenses on the west side of the city.
A deafening roar followed as the explosions sent shockwaves through the streets and alleys. Dust and rubble erupted outward, shrapnel striking the nearby Titan armor with sharp clinks.
Six Ultramarines, clad in blue-and-gold armor, moved swiftly through an alley to the smoking remains of the Covenant defenses. Two dual-barreled Titan main battle tanks with anti-grav systems, four Cyclops mechs, and over two hundred clone soldiers flanked the Ultramarines, skirting columnar structures as they advanced.
The metal-hydrogen missile bombardment had crystallized sections of the ground, and the fortress-like defensive structures had partially vaporized. Only twelve kilometers now separated the troops from the Covenant shipyard.
But then:
"Roar! No retreat!"
"Crush these monkeys!"
"For the gods and for glory!"
The Brutes, still numbering in the thousands, charged out of bunkers and from surrounding areas, brandishing plasma rifles, crude hammers, and war spears. Alongside them were tens of thousands of Jackals, Grunts, Drones, and Hunter infantry in full battle armor.
The Jackals and Hunters required no introduction, while the Grunts, in light of the Elite's def
ection, had seized the opportunity to flee, hoping to join their "saviors." However, few managed to escape, with the majority forced to continue fighting alongside the Covenant.
Drones, whose numbers and reproduction capabilities rivaled those of the Grunts, were insectoid creatures capable of flight. They lived in hive-like societies controlled by a queen and were used by the Covenant as flying cannon fodder armed with lightweight weapons to distract and harass enemies.
Meanwhile, Covenant combat vehicles resembling beetles and insects amassed in a purple tide, converging on the alliance forces.
Aware of the overwhelming scale of this opposition, the Ultramarines held back, unwilling to engage directly.
Instead, a squadron of allied fighters, having anticipated the advance, launched another round of air-to-ground missiles at the Covenant's ground units.
These smaller explosions, restrained for safe firing range, created bright flares and mushroom clouds across the Covenant positions, momentarily disrupting their lines with shockwaves and smoke.
It was then that the Ultramarines, seizing the opportunity, launched their assault on the smoke-covered Covenant lines.
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