Fate Conquers All : A Ring's Fury
Posted By: LoneRanger 2.5<stlovell@eritter.net>
Date: 25 September 2005, 2:03 am
Read/Post Comments
|
0403 Hours, September 22, 2552 {Military Calendar}
UNSC Cruiser Thermopylae, Inside Ship Cafeteria
When he came to he was disoriented. As he stood up he nearly fell down again. But the same crewman caught him and helped him to his feet.
"Captain, are you okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine."
He tried to walk forward but his attempts ended without the wanted result. He finally was forced to sit down on a chair. He looked around and found that he was in the ship's cafeteria. "How did I get here?" he asked. He hoped that someone, not caring who, would answer.
"Marcinko did."
The voice came from the other side of the room. O'Dell noticed that it wasn't any of the bridge crew, they were all crowded around him. He told some of the men and women to move so that he could see the one who said it. When he could see who said it he noticed it was Sergeant Jowes. When did he get here? I can't believe how fast those guys are! He shrugged it off and got back to the point.
"It was nothing really." Marcinko pronounced.
"You saved my life. Even if it was, in your words, nothing, I thank you. I'll forever be in debt with you."
"Nah, just until you die."
It wasn't much, but the joke lightened things up a bit. Unfortunately, that ended as they assessed the situation. The ship's occupants had little, if any chance of survival. This was a crucial time, he may've been making the most important decision of his life. Saving more than 300 people.
As he gathered himself, he gave his crew an order. "Use the loudspeakers to tell all occupants to abandon ship and head toward this planet's moon. Be sure to tell 'em to where protective suits. It's only temporary until we can regroup and find a suitable environment. Finally, tell them to bring any weapons and ammo that they can."
"Aye sir."
After the order was given, the bridge crew, O'Dell, and Sgt. Jowes headed toward the life pods. Once they reached them he realized most of them were gone. Unsurprised by this, he checked to see just how many were left.
Only four left. Nice to see some of them followed orders.
He would've been even happier to see all of them gone. This would mean that most everyone followed orders, but it would also mean that he and his bridge crew would have to go that much farther and get a Pelican. He knew though that many had escaped in Londswords or Pelicans.
"Conserve as much room as possible. Fill one up then move to the other one."
He was surprised to see that it only took three pods to take the entire crew. As they were speeding towards the moon he looked over the pilot's shoulder and out of the front window. It was almost as if an entire fleet of ships was headed to battle to destroy an entire planet. Then he saw a Pelican get destroyed by a burst of plasma. A look of shock came over his face. Marcinko was able to say what everyone was thinking.
"Where did that come from?" he exclaimed.
Just then, a Seraph fighter flew past. It's shimmering outer hull was blinding nearly. It had a menacing purple coloration, a favorite among the Covenant. A fire was burning near it's engine port. It had been hit. The pilot's face was visible through it's forward window. The face held an expression of unequaled pride as it discovered how near death it was. For in front of it, a blue energy pulse impacted upon his hull. He had made it to glorious salvation while completing it's Great Journey. The explosion rocked the life pod.
Jowes was thrown from his seat and knocked out when his head crashed into the steel ceiling of his pod. He and Marcinko's life pod had launched before O'Dell's and was closer to the explosion.
The Covenant had discovered their position. Marcinko couldn't help but wonder what was firing those blue pulses. If it was Covenant, than it probably wouldn't have hit that Seraph. But he didn't exclude the possibility of it being Covenant held. They'd destroyed their own before, usually on accident.
O'Dell saw at least four more ships go down. All of a sudden, a dozen, give or take, Covenant ships popped into view. One ship ended up coming out of slip space right on top of about seven Longswords. It turned, showing it's port side, and fired plasma torpedoes toward those that were left. O'Dell saw one going toward his pod. He then witnessed a Pelican fly in front of the pod and be disintegrated. They had sacrificed their lives for that of their shipmates. Their death would not be in vein, he was to make sure of that.
|
