Text The Ashes of Winter

[Saber Lily 1,543]

Author's Note

This is a story I have worked on for awhile; the writing really gets better as it goes on, as my writing got better over time. Some parts are PG-13, and I don't really beat around the bush - if someone just slept with someone, it'll say so pretty bluntly. So, uh, read, review, let me know if there is anything that could be made better ^_^

There will be PG14+ stuff later on, but it's mostly the above heavily, blunted implied sexual situations. Language is not really used.

I also plead guilty to blatant referencing.

Chapter 1: Rended Dawn

The Long and Dark December exited the hyper window, initiating its stealth systems. The ship was a massive assault warship, one of the few Sequoia-class heavy dreadnoughts in the fleet. The December was also the only Sequoia that had stealth systems; she could wait until an enemy task force came near, then drop the cloak and let loose upon them, decimating half the hostiles before the shields hit fifty
percent.  But today, the mighty ship was on the most dangerous mission it had ever been on; locating the missing experiment warship Break of Dawn, commanded by the legendary Isabella “Izzy” Ark. The Break of Dawn was the most advanced ship in the fleet, boasting
sensors that could detect even the December when cloaked. But the entire mission had to be ordered by the even-more legendary Soren Rathnik, the Admiral of the Arcturus fleet and renowned for his command of the fleet against the insurgent’s flotilla during the Siena Hart Memorial Day, for the missing Commodore, the sole commander of the destroyer Triton’s Oath. Now, she was missing, leaving behind her not-so-secret lover Alexis Hunter. Now, Ignacio Tyrrell was going to locate the missing wife of the single-most decorated and the most legendary man in the Sol Alliance.
 

“This is the Long and
Dark December to Alliance Command; I have no visuals on the Break of Dawn. It must have moved from
its orbit of Sanctum.”

“Alliance Command to Long and Dark December, we read you. Proceed with search. At 2355 the Arkwind will be joining you.”

Tyrell paused. “Command, confirm that. Did you say Arkwind?”

“We did. What, did you expect him to ignore the fact it’s
his wife?”

“Roger that Command, Long and Dark December out.”
 

Tyrell was nervous. The Arkwind rarely left the orbit of Sanctuary, as it was the sole Sacra-class assault dreadnought, and Sanctuary was the main base of the Sol Alliance outside of the Sol System. Even if it was his wife, Alliance Command would never have let him come. Whatever was on the Break of Dawn was important enough to take one of the most powerful ships out of the equation as the war with the Sirius Coalition raged. And Tyrell was worried about Isabella Ark. The lady was legendary for directing the holding action of Kyoto. Tyrell knew Mrs. Ark could take care of herself, but he also knew that Command was keeping something from him.
 

”You don’t send a Sequoia to search for a Jormangund destroyer. And like hell do you take our sole Sacra
dreadnought and send her to search for a sole destroyer…”

“Sir.”

Tyrell looked over to Antonio Delgado. “Yes Exo?”

“Sir, we have launched Suncutter S and R craft and have formed a fighter screen. All Angelwing fighters are green.”

“Good. Begin search in a grid pattern, and do it right. I want a report the moment a grid is entered and another when it is cleared. The
moment Break of Dawn is located; I want it relayed to us immediately.”

 

The ships began the long search.

 

Chapter Two: Horizon Rising

 

It had been hours. Tyrell was growing impatient. There were no SC activity in this system, and the Break of Dawn was still missing. All that was left was searching the planet, Sanctum, an overcast world that was set aside for Alliance use. Doted on the surface were bases and the entire planet was crossed with canyons, some of them that were big enough to hide a Destroyer. It was a large world, nearly three times to size of the Earth. Tyrell sighed as the Suncutter S and R entered the atmosphere and spread out across the area, along with the Angelwings. He sighed. He had maybe twenty out of two hundred fighters still defending the December. He sighed.
“Get me a line to Command.”
“Line opened sir.”
Tyrell rubbed his brow. “Captain Tyrell to Command, all sectors clear, commence search of Planet Sanctum. ETA on Arkwind?”
“He’ll be there in twenty minutes; had to divert him to Sakura to take down an Insurgent battle group. Took him an hour because the Insurgents started running the moment the Arkwind came out of hyperspace.”
Tyrell chuckled. “Aye, anyone would when the almighty Arkwind comes bearing down on you.”
“Aye. He’ll be there soon. Hang tight.”
Tyrell sighed and signed off, wondering what the hell was going on.
“Sir, Raziel Two has something on scanners. It appears to be…holy crap, sir! Coalition ships have made in-atmosphere hyper jumps and are moving off! All are frigates; Diverting all Angelwings immediately. We can’t descend into the atmosphere, we’re too heavy!”
“Dammit…send everything we have, we need to buy those bases some time.”
“Sir, Raziel Two confirms five Coalition Aeon class assault frigates!”
“Dammit, the December is unable to go in-atmosphere without jet lifts.”
Tyrell couldn’t do anything. The December was unable to enter the atmosphere and get low enough to assault the Coalition frigates without jet lifts. The gravity of Sanctum would quite literally pull the ship into the ground without anything to help keep them up. Tyrell grimaced. His ship had to have not been built with the lifters. He cursed.
“Sir, Cape Hope base has responded! They have their heavy weapons online and have scrambled patrol cutters from Evora Base.”
Tyrell was about to respond when multiple hyper windows opened, depositing…
“Sir! We have seven CC-9 Trotsky assault battleships on intercept courses escorted by five Aeon class frigates!”
“Open fire immediately; divert any ships near us to engage on sight! I want all weapons to focus on the first enemy craft!”
“Sir! Enemy frigates have entered the atmosphere! Their landing on Sanctum.”
The remaining Angelwings broke off and opened fire, taking down four Revolution fighters right off the bat. The remaining Angelwings were part of the Seraphim Wing, the only Fighter Squadron to be represented on every ship in the fleet. The Seraphim Squadron had been formed, led, and administrated by Siena Hart herself. They were the premier fighter wing of the Alliance, and were immortalized at the academy by a wall inscribed with the names of every Seraph in the division. The twenty Seraphim Pilots attached to the Long and Dark December were Seraphim’s’ 42-62.
“Seraphim Wing, excellent fighting, clear the way now. We’re unleashing a Knight Missile barrage on the lead Trotsky.”
The knight missile launchers released their deadly payloads, rocketing two hundred warheads at the lead ship. A few enemy fighters intercepted some missiles, but in the end over 160 missiles rocked the hostile ship, pocket-marking it with craters and sending gouts of flame out of it. It still came…right into the full frontal barrage of the December’s main cannons. It began to fall apart, and the shields on the massive Sequoia remained strong. The next two began to fire, and the shields began to strain.
“Move between them, divide guns and broadside, fire all missiles on the next closest and prepare to fire the Kiss Blade.”
The Kiss Blade was a weapon developed by Siena Hart. Quite by accident too. The Kiss Blade was a massive Energy cannon that gathered energy from Zero Space, the dimension that all ships passed through when engaging their Hyper Engines to jump. Zero Space was essentially a huge expanse of energy that allowed ships to bend time and space. The Kiss Blade opened a small hole into Z-space, the slang term, and channeled the power into a destructive blast. It was rumored that Siena had thought it up as she kissed her lover, Alexis, as they entered Z-Space. It was a rumor. A really…weird one.
“Sir, the Kiss Blade is powering up, we’ll be able to fire-“
He was cut off as the December unleashed two full broadsides onto the Coalition ships.
“Sir, we won’t be able to do that again, but both of those ships are heavily damaged!”
“Fire half our missiles forward, and the rest back at them.”
The gunnery chief complied, unleashing everlasting fires onto the third Trotsky.
“Sir, we can’t do this for much longer! We are losing shields and will have impacts on our hull soon! Kiss Blade won’t finish its charge in time!”
“Sir, incoming hyper window from the direction of Sakura!”
Out of the hyper window, in all its legend, came the Arkwind, the mighty Sacra-class assault dreadnought. It came bearing down on the last three Trotsky battleships, decimating two of them with a single shot from the Arkwind’s final weapon, the devastating weapon known only by its codename: Oathkeeper. Tyrell couldn’t believe how deadly the thing was. The Long and Dark December didn’t even have to resume firing; the Arkwind single-handedly took them all out. Then it released its smaller craft; over a thousand Angelwing fighters, as well as the core of the Seraphim Wing, Seraphim’s 1-17. The ships dived into the atmosphere and broke apart, heading for each frigate.
“Arkwind to Long and Dark December, we got your back.”
“This is Captain Ignacio Tyrell, sorry for breaking protocol, but is this who I think it is?”
“You are correct Captain. This is Rear Admiral Thomas Ark of the Keyhole Fleet, 3rd Assault Flotilla.”
Keyhole. A strange name for a system. But it became known as the system. Keyhole was the home of Sanctuary; the location of the shipyard Alaska. Keyhole was the home of Seraphim, and the system that was under the direct protection of the Arkwind. Tyrell still was uneasy; Rear Admiral Ark did not leave the Keyhole system on a regular basis. He only leaves to visit Commodore Izzy Ark once in awhile, but never on the Arkwind. No, he would use the Jason Grace, a speedy Corvette that he used to command. The Jason Grace was the little brother to the destroyer Thalia Grace, commanded by Captain Alexis Hunter.
“Sir, why are you here much less in the Arkwind”
There was a pause. “Break of Dawn found something. Something alien. It was set to be returned to Sanctuary in Keyhole, but we lost contact with it. We must find it now.”
“It must be in this system.”
“Aye. We’ll need to launch everything we can.”
 

Edited June 11, 2013 by Oathkeeper136

[Kurama 171]

I WANT MORE

[Saber Lily 1,543]

Heh. Thanks. I'll wait until I get a few more reviews before I throw up Part 2.

 

FYI I am breaking them into parts as I post; the original story had no part 1, part 2, etc. was just a single long story.

[Javelin434 3,164]

Is this the fleet used in the RP?

[Saber Lily 1,543]

Nope. This is a non-KH story. But you might see references to many series I like.

 

The fleet in Revelations is from the World of Gummis' military force Avalon. Essentially, throw the UNSC, Mass Effect Human/Turian/Asari Armada, and the Grand Army of the Republic's fleet together for that one.

 

This is a standalone thing I did/am doing because I was bored.

 

Edit: I can write the story of Avalon and the fleet and send it to you if you want. I never really went in depth beyond "they have a fleet. And have a lot of gummis."

Edited March 27, 2013 by Oathkeeper136

[Saber Lily 1,543]

Updated with Chapter 2. Enjoy.