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Mars Part 1-Nightfall
Posted By: SpartanOmega<ultimowolf02@aol.com>
Date: 20 December 2004, 6:51 PM
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Lt. Daniel Raine woke in cold sweat.
He sat up in his bed and pulled his sheets off the floor.He scratched his brown crewcut,then stared out the glass window into the Martian valleys and starry skies.It was the same nightmare he had been plauged with a dozen nights before,but this time it was worse.Daniel got up and walked down to the water fountain at the end of the hall,and took a long drink to calm his nerves.Then,he started walking down the corridors towards the Communication Center.These nighttime strolls through Olympus Base are becoming routine,he thought quietly.
Olympus Base was the largest military base on Mars,and held over ten thousand civilians and soldiers alike.It consisted of various halls,residential areas,an ONI office,and a war room.Daniel had been in Olympus Base for three months,and had still not explored it all.He sighed and strolled down past the now quiet residential market,past the ONI Operations Station,and to the Communications Center,which was staffed around the clock.
His thoughts were preoccupied,and went back to the meeting with the ONI officer he had the day before.The officer, James Franks,had called him there for an important meeting after looking over his record,and said he had a request for him.
"Very interesting." Franks said and slid the folder with Lt.Raine's record across the table.
Daniel shifted uneasily in his chair.He wanted to leave,he had always felt uncomfortable in the presence of ONI officials.He looked out to the bustling market and wished he could blend into the crowd.But ONI didn't make meetings for small talk,if they had called him here,they meant buisness.
"You single-handedly changed the battle at Alpha Centauri,quite a feat that's been kept in the dark for some time now.I'm impressed Lieutenant,if you hadn't caught those first comm signals and redirected First Battilion,Alpha Centauri would have been glassed long before."
"Just doing what I was trained to do." Daniel said,still uncomfortable.
"I won't waste my time here Lieutenant,I have a job for you.A job meant for someone of your caliber.I have talked this over with the Olympus Brass and they agree,we'd like to make you Communications Chief of Olympus Base."
Daniel froze in his chair,then regained his composure.
"I gladly accept,tell the brass I can start as soon as they choose."
A voice broke through Daniel's flashback and brought him back to where he was.
"Sir?"The young comm officer said."Are you alright sir?"
Daniel stopped walking,he was in front of the Comm Center,where two security guards waited for him to use the fingerprint scanner.
"I'm fine Adams.Anything on the channels?"Lt.Raine questioned.He put his hand on the scanner,the guard looked at his computer and nodded."No sir,nothing tonight."Adams said,walking with him.
Raine and Adams walked into the sprawling dome that was the Comm Center and were saluted by the twenty officers who worked night-shift.There were at least fifty terminals stationed in the dome,each with intrusion procedures that were updated almost daily by ONI.Daniel walked up a flight of stairs and went over to his personal comm station at the head of the dome,which looked down on the rest of the Center.He ran a quick alert scan through the two closest systems,knowing there would be no results.He let out a relieved sigh,peace and quiet for another night.Then he took a quick look through his messages and saw a new message from Admiral Allens,Commander and Chief of Olympus Base.
UNSC Private Message Acess Level:Cyan
Adress:Olympus Base Communication Chief,Lt.Daniel Raine
From:Olympus Base Commander and Chief,Admiral Darren Allens
Hope the new job is treating you well,it's not an easy feat.
I got a message from ONI Section Three yesterday,told us to be on high alert for any possible signals,these Covenant bastards get more tricky by the day.The rest of the brass is nervous,ONI intercepted some Covenant comm data.It looks like it might be navagation charts,but they wont be sure for days.Keep us impressed Raine,we could all use some good news.
END MESSAGE
Daniel did another scan and looked at all echo and traffic patterns.He would have missed it if he hadn't looked back.Nestled deep under civilian radio echoes,was an unidentified signal that from the reports was only a day old.He ran a cross-system check on the signal,which was usually handled by AI's,and isolated the signal.It would be tricky but he could trace it back to it's source with the right tricks up his sleeve.He ran his probe diagnostic through the system,which was technically illegal by UNSC standards,and was sent to an error,NO COMM FOUND screen.The signal was heavily encrypted,this was no average anamoly.He had the top tracing software that was unmatched by any other in Sol.He sent his second,and more reckless probe out.There was no noise except the quiet talking of the comm officers below him,then his screen rolled out the results of his probe.
BETA PROBE COMPLETE
UNKNOWN SHIP,ALPHA SECTOR.
WARNING:SIGNAL BOUNCED
ERROR SYSTEMATIC SHUTDOWN
Daniel's terminal went blank.
He was puzzled,what the hell was going on?
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