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Unexpected Surprises by JediKnight114
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Unexpected Surprises
Date: 28 August 2002, 7:58 pm
Message Alpha
Code *red*
Classification Urgent**::**
:date://\ 5227
*:reads :*
As of 17:30 standard military Earth was destroyed- list of dead-, 2 billion and rising. The outer realm planets must unite and colonize a new world. This is Humankinds only hope for survival, anyone who receives this message please send delegates to rendezvous at Fegahn 6::coordinates:: ****Juliet by **.*** Alpha:: outer realm headquarters. UNSC is to be vetoed out and new government in.
008epec7\42 }{ UNSC forces are scattered thin and we are in the process of persuading members over to a new unity. Forces are massing we have now 20 billion units total. We have allied with a new alien race the Criags, a highly powerful race one of equal status to the covenant and now are successfully holding the covenant at bay.
John looked at this message through a crackling and fuzzy screen. He wondered how long it really had been that he was in the Long sword, Cortana delightfully chimed in " well lets see my count is 2 years".
"Thanks Cortana I didn't need to hear that". . John kind of dropped his head and moved it in a way showing his intolerance at the moment. "Cortana when will our ship being range to send an omega distress"?
"5000m Chief", good at least we are close John thought. He continued to prep everything for his arrival to this new intervention, it seemed to him to good to be true but hey he's been in tougher situations before. He went back to the weapons locker in the rear of the ship, grabbed an MA 5B strapped it to his leg and pouched a few clips of ammo. Next he looked at the store of grenades there, quite a few he thought, and took the belt of 12. The ships vicinity alarm chimed "Chief we are within rage I did some tinkering and have boosted transmitter power to 125%, we can use the com system but not for long. Make it short and sweet".
"Right, Fegahn 6 this is John 117 radioing distress, repeat this is John 117 can I get a ride"?
Through the crackling and noises came a response, ":::we've::: picked **phshh**:: your signal:::: MC will be there ASAP"
"what's your ETA I've been in this thing for a couple years, I'm looking forward to getting out of this thing"
"26 hours and **shhpshh**minutes sir, might be longer". Great he had to wait another day what was he going do to pass the time sleeping was out of the question he had gotten plenty of that. Plus the fact of being picked up soon gave him that rush you feel as you ride a roller coaster.~28 hours later~
"we have a visual Chief" What? it was a UNSC cruiser named the Aquarius, questions blazed through his mind. He readied his gun and had a grenade in hand just incase, well he thought lets go with the flow. The cruiser loomed out of hyperspace (light speed) it was much bigger then he remembered them being, the missile pods were missing. Now replaces with large ball turret mounted duel laser barrels. He also noticed a slight glimmer to the ship as it moved closer, he was confused it looked almost as his own shields.
::Aquarius:: "Bring her in sir" John did as told and brought the long sword around, and the ships outside glimmered again and John radioed "what is that, are those shields?"
"y.:::::::" the radio transformer broke. Well he would find out later.
He then proceeded and docked on the port side under the aft section. Once onboard he proceeded to the locker room to find a MJNOLNIR model IX. Whoa he thought they must have come a long way in the 2 years he was on the bomber. Well he thought lets try it !. John took off the old battle torn armor he wore for the past years and donned a new shiny dark olive green suit. Feeling better to actually be able to move around the ship, he always hated being onboard a ship, he came to the bridge he saw the captain standing at the bridge window.
The captain fondly reminded John of Keys, rigid in stature and cool in manner, even sounded alike. John almost couldn't take it the surge of emotion he rarely felt, but this time it was running through him. The game he played with Hasly, the time he met keys, Halo, Keys' death. But he pushed them to the back of his mind, he had more important matters currently.
"sir" he sounded off as he brought himself to a text book position of attention.
"Master Chief, so you are real" said the captain as he captain turned to face John's towering figure, his cold eyes meeting John's. His name tag boasting Lewis John looked at him, sort of sizing him up, smiling behind the safety of his helmet at what a small man he was. Lewis was only a mere 5'3, short but still had a tenacious reputation as being one of the first OJST, who later disbanded.
"Chief, I'm going to be frank here. We received a message from the Outer Realms HQ, and we the UNSC have very little room to push them around. As for them they have all they need to wipe us out, we've figured out total number of humankind left-2.5 billion-. So Chief we are going to make relations and the UN will disband, and the UW (United Worlds) will be brought on. Thanks to Cortana we now know close to everything we need to know about the covenant. Just then Cortana popped up on the holo pad.
"What you didn't just think I was sitting around for my own pleasure did you"?
The Master Chief chuckled, he always knew there was something about her, but not what.
"well, John responded after a brief pause, how long till we reach Fegahn"?
"ETA 22 minutes sir!" shouted an Ensign from the Helm.
"captain Lewis sir, were there anymore Spartans made?", asked John
"why yes actually", he clicked on the COM "5th battalion, platoon 6, squad 4, report to the bridge". They all waited in silence as four figures walked in, they all were well built, the first one was named Mike he was quit tall with a military crew cut and ice eyes. The next who was Juan was slightly shorter, he had black eyes which could easily loose the bravest of men, and you could tell he was no one to kid with, he had that look (that I'll grab you by the neck and slowly twist my knife into your skull). The next two walked in and they all snapped to attention for Lewis. Until they saw John standing there, John was looking at the second pair Spartans only knowing too well who they were Fred, and Kelly. John un masked himself to the Spartans, then Fred and Kelly broke with emotion. Mike and Juan stood rigid, not knowing what was going on.
"how. . . It. . . Is it . . . . Really you?" John was too shocked for words. After a short reunion they all freshly snapped to attention. Lewis had a surprised look on his face.
"you ? Are ? Wait . . . . How?" the Captain was a tad confused. All the Spartans were explaining to Lewis, as the XO walked up and whispered to the captain.
The captain made a quick "eh herm", all quieted. "the vid link from MC's helmet is up and running, on screen".
For several minutes the entire bridge watched will awe at the footage of the covenant and the marines being senselessly slaughtered, blood flying everywhere grenade explosions flailing bodies, this all cut short by a warning alarm going off. John braced himself and readied for a onslaught. A jolt flew through the ship, john flinched but nothing happened, he looked at Fred with a quizzical look
"shields for ships?"
"yep came out as of 3 months ago" They both then turned there attention to two covenant Carriers staring down at them.
"Sir ! Depressurization in C deft block 12, we've been hit"
" Shields up!, casualties?"
"yes sir!,. no sir none so far!"
"evasive maneuvers now!, attack point India"
"acknowledged!" the ship lurched to the left and swiveled giving a broad side, the ship then awaited orders everyone on their toes form the adrenaline rush from the battle about to be unfolded.
"open fire!"
"yes sir" super bright laser bolts went flying through the gap between the human and covenant ships impacting and dispersing the covey's shields, Cortana then popped up again.
"serphs" coming in at 12 o clock, moving to defense point bravo" she immediately acted to bring up the laser gatling guns a tri barrel pulse laser full auto weapon, she fired them dozens of simultaneous explosions appeared on the vid screen
"losses?"
" none sir!" shouted an Ensign form the port side weapons control panel .
Unexpected Surprises (part 2)
Date: 1 September 2002, 7:59 pm
"Bring us around I want to open a forward barrage!" shouted Lewis
"Sir, yes sir!" came the mandatory response form the Ensign at the helm. Cortana came into view again and offered assistance in the matter, then Ensign cut her short by demanding help as he tried to maneuver the upgraded ship. It still proved a challenge to the average human to pilot the huge ship, Cortana moved the ship so it lurched to a lulling role and propped the back end up at a 45¨∞ angle.
"Fire! Now !", Cortana did as told and opened fire on one of the covenant ship. It tried to employ evasive maneuvers which worked to some extent. The carrier sustained a brutal amount of decisive blows. The ship then stopped altogether and sat as though it were dead in space. This was a bit odd to the crew until it became obvious, a bright green glow lit the vid screen up. It was some sort of weapon gaining energy, but what.
"SIR HEAVY ENERGY BUILD UP ITS OPENING FIRE!" shouted a terrified green horn Ensign.
"Cortana get us out of that firing path!" came a snarl from the captain.
"on it !" came her short snappy reply. The covenant Carrier glowed green and a thin transparent particle beam weapon discharged and shot straight at the mid section of the Aquarius. Cortana did her best to move but it still hit the mid section head on.
"Shields down to 15% and wavering!" shouted the weapons officer.
"Return fire, return fire !" the captain yelled out as he regained his balance. "Light those fuckers up ! Give em and early Christmas. The crew did as told and gave the covenant what we call HELL, the new target of humankinds rage, the Carrier, dropped out of existence faster then it had showed up. As the Aquarius launched a crushing volley of laser bolts and beams tearing through the carrier like cheese in a grater. The second carrier repositioned itself behind the Aquarius and had launched the rest of its fighters, 175 in all. Cortana immediately spun the ship around and opened fire clogging the battle field with laser bolts, the highly maneuverable seraphs weren't so enough. They couldn't avoid getting a laser down their throat, a few made it passed the barrage Cortana gave them. She stopped firing as the Aquarius launched its fighters, called Razor tooth interceptors. The Razor tooths are a new improved model of the longs word interceptors, more maneuverable and have a small MAC cannon mounted in the nose under the cockpit, so the pilot was pretty much sitting on top of his only salvation. Still the cannon did its job firing faster than most. They engaged at point blank entangling like a mesh of tangled yarn, then a brief 30 seconds of glimmering as shields disappeared off the seraphs, followed by explosions left and right, both seraphs and Razor Tooth alike both blew up in plumes of gigantic flame, then sucked out by the vacuum of space. Then sidetracked by all this the Aquarius blundered in not focusing on the carrier which positioned a perfect broad side, the ship lit up as the plasma array charged up. It fired a volley of plasma and then rolled back around exposing the particle weapon charging. The plasma hit burning away the last of the shields, the crew felt a slight pressure change as the shields gave way to the immense amount of plasma bearing down on it. A few plasma blasts hit on target eating the upgraded titanium polymer carbonate mix. The ship started to swing back over in a circle but was cut short by Cortana's quick thinking, she employed the emergency thrusters, and burned them till fuel was out. The sip decelerated, correcting the circle that it was beginning to move in.
"ok guys charge our MAC bring it online I want it hot in 45 seconds, heavy antimatter round now!" shouted a sweaty and nervous Lewis, he thought to himself he had come to far to let this happen to himself.
the ship suffered a large extent of damage and was now operating on 2/3 power with main weapon systems offline.
The MAC cannon lowered out of the bow of the Cruiser, automated doors swung open to let the mammoth MAC cannon come out.
"sir MAC is up and charging ready in 30" as the cannon charged everyone wondered if it really would do the trick, they were at the mercy of a gigantic covenant ship, not good.
"sir we are hot'n ready sir!"
"FIRE, Give em HELL boys hit em and hit em hard I want them down for the count"
"roger, fire away, shot is away!" the entire ship recoiled in a tremendous movement the Aquarius cracked and creaked through out every corridor. The shot rammed into the Carrier and ravished the shields with ease, the shot then disappeared into the ships depths and then paused. The ship jerked backwards as inertia took over and then imploded onto itself causing and even bigger explosion as the pieces shot in every direction disintegrating instantly as the heat died down everyone was all shaky, they all looked around at each other wide eyed and terrified at what had just happened.
"Damage report" came a request from the captain who was short of breath. Everyone a little jumpy at any thing that moved, the XO who was talking to an engineer ran to the captain and offered a salute, but the captain stopped him.
"screw procedures for now I want to know how many able body fighters did we loose?"
"12 Razor interceptors, and from the looks of it a system tech operator in D block near the troop living area."
"damn which ones?"
"Raider Squadron sir, and 4 partial casualties in some others sir"
"Well..at least it wasn't too much more people" sighed the captain.
"captain, why was there no Cole protocol initiated?" asked John
"You haven't heard?" answered Lewis
"Heard what sir?"
"John, I'm afraid to say it . . . But, Earth was destroyed" said Lewis while hanging his head low, careful not to have said it in a loud voice, for that subject still clung tightly to him. He was there when it happened, there in the ranks of the millions of brave and honorable troops only to watch in horror as a mega ton ball of plasma was dropped into the field killing most all the human troops. The Covenant also must not of cared for their own either, at least 2 ¨Ω million Covenant troops died as well. A horrible sight to behold it was, it pretty much glassed earth in that one shot. If it weren't for the brave Spartan known as Jason Talandis, he rescued Lewis from certain death as he saw Lewis' Lone Sword go down, he brought over a modified Pelican and scouted and brought him the Pelican and then jumped out and sacrificed himself to a group of Covies armed only with combat knife he valiantly fought to his last drop of blood.
"what but how?, never mind that we need to reach Fegahn 6 before the Covenant bring reinforcements"
"right Chief, take us to heading 117-41 by 88.9 and make a light speed calc and jump on my mark" Lewis said as he barked orders.
"I'm on it sir, should be done in 20 seconds"
John watched the Ensign program the computer with hands almost as fast as he moved himself. John sat there and wondered how could earth have fallen, yet again how could his ship never have been found by the covenant. He looked up again and looked around the bridge, admiring the crew, how they haven't even come across the horrors he had, especially the marines on halo. Damn the thought the selflessness of the entire human race has shown true, he thought why couldn't the Covenant see that, true hate aroused with in him. For the first time he was starting to think for himself here, more or less the entire race, just scratching the surface of independent thought. But it died down when he heard the captain say,
" ok make the jump 3, 2, mark" and the Aquarius accelerated without shuttering and made the jump.
Unexpected Surprises part 3
Date: 29 October 2002, 5:49 pm
"Bearing?" asked the captain
"course 117-41 by 88.2, a slight adjustment due to our drift, and well our present operating power sir"
"good" the Aquarius was undergoing (underway repairs) meaning the crew was doing their best to patch everything up after the battle. A surprise victory it was, for everyone, now that everyone had a chance to relax, well most of them. The system techs and engineers were working 13 hour shifts to pull the repairs, they didn't want to show up and make the Marine Corps look bad. John looked up and realized he was trailing sweat, he laughed at himself on the inside, his pathetic fear of ships. How that would come to haunt him one day he thought.
"how are the repairs coming Lieutenant?" asked the captain
"sir, . . . Ahead of schedule sir will be done within 2 hours"
"I want it done faster no excuses!" demanded Lewis
"YES SIR!" shouted the Lieutenant as he sounded off in compliance
The Aquarius decelerated, normal space rushing into view. Power readings and all normal functions and procedures had resumed. The ship was bustling with activity as every single crew member, in exception for the Spartans were dressing into their dress whites and pinned all their decorations on their chests. Everything done with military accuracy the captain being the most decorative. Boasting the Medal of Honor, Navy Cross, a purple heart, silver star, and the honorary Legion medal, Along with several other ribbons. The Spartans polished their armor and flicked on their shields to give themselves a green/ gold look to themselves, portraying them as the were gods.
"sir Fegahn VI has opened a com channel"
"on screen" the image appeared and the General of the UW forces face was shown. Lewis stood tall, no one would have noticed his small figure they way he stood, proud honorable, and respectfully.
"Sir I am Captain Lewis of the UNSC Aquarius, this is my XO Lieutenant Cordova, we have come to take you up on the offer to unify, repel, and to eliminate covenant forces".
"well Captain you seem to know your stuff, ODST, impressive I will be looking forward to talk with you. I'm sure we can put our heads together on this subject".
"Sir I thank you, Requesting permission to come a landing"
"granted bring your escort to these coordinates 127N by 87 W, and land on docking platform 8C"
"Yes sir" with that he ordered the transmition cut. He let out a heavy sigh thinking to himself, well that went pleasant. He hoped that this would work, hell of a way to play a trump card for the human race he thought. He gathered the Spartans lead by John and boarded his personal Yacht. His Yacht was outfitted with a mark VIII Mac turret on the top bow section, with a laser ball turret on the hull, with Iwo Jima class shields protecting it. John and the other Spartans took their seats strapped themselves in and made ready. They were armed to the teeth, MA 5Ds a longer barreled then MA 5Bs, they also had an old fashion .45 caliber pistol with armor piercing rounds and 5 class C frag grenades, and 3 D ring thermal grenades. They were altogether a formal force to recon with, it would take a lot to take these guys out.
The ship descended through the atmosphere winding softly down through the cloud ceiling as the land came into view they all admired the beauty, it looked just like earth
Sky scrapers as tall as huge pillars standing free of restraint. Traffic even was as heavy as earth, this was humankind flourishing at its best. The yacht came in with two decorative Long Sword fighters, to meet an escort of a new kind of fighter. It was a heavily armed triple hulled ship with a nuke firing bay, and on each wing were 8 separate plasma and laser firing pods, 4 for plasma, 4 for laser. On the tip of each wing lay an ion booster for extra maneuverability, and a Mac cannon in the nose and a forward deflector shield. In all the ship looked very impressive, john thought to himself, that he'd have to see them in action. As they continued along winding and twisting through urban, then military facilities until the landing platform came into view a full welcome comity was there, all of them dressed in their formal attire.
The yacht floated downward effortlessly and then swiveled as 3 stabilizer plates jutted out from the hull and the yacht touched down soft enough to have landed on an egg with out cracking the shell, showing john's excellent piloting capabilities. The boarding plank lowered and the Spartans were all at different points around Lewis, making the Captain the center of the formation, all of them were walking in unison. The General of the UW was standing alone to greet the 4 men walking toward him as they all prompted a crisp, rigid salute, the general returned it as the formation cam to a halt and the Spartans all spread out along Lewis. The general shook Lewis' hand as Lewis glanced at the generals' name tag it read Atwater . He thought to himself, humph I've seen that name before, he didn't pay much attention to it afterwards.
"right this way captain Lewis" gestured the general
"yes sir, Kelly stay here and watch my ship"
"sir!"
Now with one less person they all marched behind the general his men were slowly trailing the group. As they entered a massive building the general "spoke here is where we are to hold our conference." they were all lead through winding corridors walled with stainless steel and dimly lit lights. They then entered a huge hall which led to a gigantic conference room, already delegates and officials from the outer realms and UNSC were conversion quietly. The UNSC delegates who saw Lewis all saluted, and acknowledged the mighty Spartans as they took their seats in the comfortable levitating chairs which had a key pad on them by which to move around the room. John felt suspicious and eyed a group of outer realms officers as well as a couple UNSC Intel members.
"Gentlemen" everyone turned their attention to a platform which hovered around to the center of the group, there sat the Commanding General of the entire outer realms. "as you all know the covenant are advancing fast, we have lost almost every tactical advantage we previously had . . . With earth gone we have only the Spartan community left, he nodded towards John, they themselves have been our saviors for the past time they are the only secret left, it is up to us and the alliance with the Criagg to put an end to this."
"what!" Shouted a voice from beyond the table, it was a UNSC Intel agent. He had defiantly made himself known, thought John.
"what is your quarrel with our decision?"
"you all don't really think its possible do you, you smothering bunch of scum!" Juan was quick to raise form his seat but Fred held him back.
"what !? How dare you! To have the balls so insult us like this we should have killed your kind long ago, your meddling ways the government is what brought reach and earth to its death, the government introduced us to the covenant!"
"you don't know the half of it you cocky bastard! The covenant were to help us but then a renegade faction rallied together for a religious war"
"THAT'S ENOUGH OF YOUR INSULENCE!" retorted the commander. He motioned his arm and four marines came in with shotguns and pointed to the agent's head.
Unexpected Surprises Part 4
Date: 15 April 2003, 1:35 AM
With these turn of events, John spoke out coldly, but calm as he tried to grasp composure of the situation.
"now, now, no need to act so rash commander, we are merely here to discuss relations... you have decided among yourselves to do away with the UN and the UNSC so any talk that comes from any of us isn't exactly priority one....is it?" the Commander sat, looking past John, and responded lightly,
"well Master Chief those are some bold words for you to be preaching in this room, but I can see what your driving at, and am obliged to hear form you at any time, as for this interruption if it happens again I will have him detained is that CLEAR?" he motioned toward the Intel Officer in a way beckoning for him to answer, not John.
The Intel. Officer replied with a mumbled yes. Tension was eased a little and the procession continued, several points and objections had arisen but, stifled with more questions. The debate continued for what seemed to be several hours, until Captain Lewis cleared his throat, seeing he has something to say the commander cleared the floor for him. The captain stood looking at everyone preparing himself, then spoke
"it has come to my attention that there is very little if any order is left with us all, yes earth was a heavy blow.........Lewis paused for a long moment, too long, but continued, it is still hard to speak of I know I witnessed it myself but I think this organization has overlooked the performance of these warriors, he motioned toward the Spartans, their effectiveness has been stunning yes we have lost many but not in vein... humankind still exists I petition we re-think our outward goals and strategies to include these men, and women"
A clap started its way across the table as Lewis shook off the sweat form his brow; he sighed and thought deeply, now what? He just placed human kind back on the shoulders of the Spartans, he knew that if it weren't for the Chief's Persistent efforts on Halo the Covenant would have easily irradiated the Humans. He looked over at the chief giving an I'm sorry look, the Chief understood however and nodded. Then the Commander spoke
"The council has taken to consideration the usage of the Spartans and we have decided, yes we will use them but to compliment our own forces" Lewis interrupted
"then if you could I must request that my ship and any other loyal to my crew, our cause and I, must be the only pocket of UNSC that remains, strictly military, only because of the information we possess and the capability of us as a team" the commander seemed to be in heavy thought but answered,
"....If, you must, I'm sure we can compromise this and enlist you as a mercenary sanction, we will discuss payment later, all in favor of enlisting the help of this man and his subordinates answer"
A resounding Aye came from a good 2/3 of the occupants present, this was a surprise thought Lewis that he could so easily present his case and still preserve the UNMC, he knew the only fighting chance was through the leadership of these men, and if he played his cards right he'd be able to thwart anything the Covys had coming. Then he got a message on his Neural Comm. link, he wondered who would do that. It was Kelly she spoke softly even though it was a secure connection,
"sir I think you might want to listen to this radio message my AI intercepted" she played it and upon listening Lewis heard something he didn't like too much, an A-wall small UNSC Frigate attacked several civilian Outer World ships and was now being pursued. John looked over and saw the shocked look on the Captain's face,
"Sir?"
"John we need to leave now, mutiny is being committed and it might bring down our own chance of survival"
"But sir who... wait Kelly jus patched it through, sir we need to offer assistance, if we act fast we may be able to snuff this out before any recognition goes out" stated John
"I concur, lets move, Lewis then whispered to Kelly, get my ship ready and alert the crew I want us combat ready before I return"
"Aye sir" came her short but delightful reply she radioed in, the XO answered
"Yes ma'am?"
"O'Malley get the ship up to combat status immediately, the Captain is coming aboard
"Yes ma'am I'm getting her ready as we speak ma'am" Kelly then messaged the Captain again,
"Sir O'Malley's got the preparations on the move"
"Good I'll be there in 10" Lewis got up and politely excused himself along with his party members and proceeded to leave the same way he entered, John quickly brought up schematics of the building and directed them out. Their exit of the building was smooth, until they reached the platform the Captain's ship was on, an elite forces guard stopped them by raising his hand and spoke shortly
"Halt, there will be no one departing this sector" John stepped up to the man
"These men and I are under specific orders to assist the UW in any way we can, we are going now"
"SIR no you will not SIR I am under,... his sentence was interrupted by John's fist thrust into the man's chest, this instantly broke three of his ribs and knocked the wind form him. The guard fell and his friends came over with their rifles ready in hand.
"What is going on here? Answer now!"
"I have no time for this" John said
"Rebel fool I can and will kill you if you attempt to leave" at this point Juan stepped forward, quiet for the whole time you'd of not known he was even there. He placed his left hand on the guard's shoulder and picked him up and brought his face to the visor of his helmet and spoke stern and forcefully
"you rat bastards haven't any clue what is going on if you continue to spit baby food all over my friends here I will make you look worse then the smell of my gym bag"
"The petrified guard stammered a,
"Y-y-y-yes sir"
"Now that's a good little rat go! Now, with the quickness" the guard ran over and chatted quickly with the deck officer and after a short while he motioned the group forward and waved them through. The Spartans sprinted lightly to the yacht, surprisingly the Captain kept up with them. As they got settled in the operation chatter began,
"Engines warming, prep stabilizers" squawked John as he regulated the cabin pressure and closed the doors, Kelly tuned in
"Ok guys, we're good to go, all atmospheric conditions met and life support is a green light" Juan spoke up as well giving his status
"Weapons check is a go, all systems operational"
The ship lifted off the platform swiveled and John brought the yacht to an extreme yaw angle, paused then slammed the throttle down and the yacht accelerated rapidly away. Everything creaked and rattled as the yacht sped almost straight up, it was as if you could feel the ship stressing until John asked for a little more power to the main thrusters, an appropriate
"Sure thing John" came from Kelly. The captain's yacht soon arrived to a busy Aquarius as they docked they could see several MP's moving about to their posts and several other ambient preparations. Lewis picked his communicator form his belt and requested a hot jump; this is a quick calculation to bring the ship's light speed jump into an area relevant to a specific object, in this case the renegade Frigate. After a short walk Lewis was on the bridge, and the Spartans off enjoying what little R&R came those days. O'Malley was chewing a young Lt. JG (junior Grade) Lewis interrupted and shunned the Lt. but pulled O'Malley aside and spoke quietly,
"Dan, we are in a bit of a pickle, leave these boys some slack ok? We need to be our best if we are ever going to be able to get on these guys good side, its bad enough we had to turn to these renegade groups" O'Malley simply showed a sign of compliance as the captain strolled to the comm. center on the bridge and opened a channel through out the ship.
"all hands, he blurted, er hem I should say Gentlemen, we are about to make a hot jump into what could be a friendly zone or it could be filled with hostiles, I want you all on your toes full alert, it seems some of the guys in the Mars 4th Naval Fleet didn't take to well to recent events, they have been strafing UW civilian ships and I have charged us with the initiative of going to assist the UW in their attempts to find them and detain them, though our friends here want them dead, I think we should pursue another route, do NOT hesitate if I give command to fire anyone who does will have me to deal with, and I will do so SEVERLY Lewis turned to O'Malley and gave the order "get us out of here"
O'Malley chimed in "calculations done take us out" the Ensign played with the control panel and eased the ship to full power and then initiated the light speed jump, the ship seemed to slip away into the abyss of light travel, a tech officer from the helm announced over his shoulder
"We should be entering target area in 15 minutes sir". Suddenly another tech officer shouted
"Covy sir, I counted 4 maybe less they popped in on our scanners I don't know if they've followed us sir but they looked to be in a hurry!" shit Lewis though not good, not good at all,
"Keep me posted" he found himself straining to say, he then thought of the ship's defense systems,
"Are the shield generators up and running?" O'Malley answered
"Yes sir, I made sure our teams jury-rigged them to do better this time, as well as adding a little extra plating over that hull area"
"Good man" said Lewis
"6 minutes until we're upon our target Sir" said the tech officer. The journey was near perfect, except for the scare when covenant ships passed by. The Aquarius reached it's destination and the ship melted back into real space showing no shift in momentum it kept a steady pace. The Aquarius moved about under full thrust as tiny dots scattered out from the sides and bottom of the massive ship like bees angrily flaring out from their hive. The Razor Tooth fighters moved vigorously about in delta formations around the Aquarius. Inside however John had fallen asleep and was moving about on one of the lounge couches in the officers galley, he woke suddenly and in one watery smooth swing of his arm rocketed his combat knife across the room nearly impaling another crew man the chef saw it coming and with luck on his side raised his cutting board and stopped the knife with some effort, he let out a sigh of relief as John looked around and ingested his surroundings, only taking him a second or two to realize he was still on the Aquarius. He rolled and tucked his legs, then planted them on the ground to stop his motion, and ran a hand over the back of his neck, then popped his head to the left and cracked his neck
"Better" he said, he then turned his attention toward the stunned members in the galley and apologized. Then the intercom sounded
"John get to the bridge now I need to speak to you"
Unexpected Surprises Part 5
Date: 7 May 2003, 3:22 AM
The master chief dazed a little still, proceeded to the bridge where he met Lewis. He spoke quaintly "John get the rest of your team ready incase this gets ugly, oh yea you're the new platoon leader for the Spartans, that is all, dismissed"
John nodded stiffly and exited as one of the tech officers shouted he had picked the frigate up on their scanners. And that their comm. system was haywire almost as if a virus and crumbled the entire ships system network of sensory and communication equipment.
The ship was in total disarray it seemed. The Aquarius was ready, her fighters, or what few fighters she had left were out in full force. Unfortunately this number was no more then 136 strong. The crew on the other hand was near 100% as far as occupancy of a ship goes about, all of whom were capable of using an assault rifle if need be.
Lewis asked for the communications system be routed to the holopad so he could have the ship's AI now Coranta patch an image to them as well as post the message real time on the data screens on the ships bridge. "I want a message sent to them, "Centurion this is the Aquarius what the hell are you boys up to?"
The comms. officer made sure to ping it, as to hit the frigate on all frequencies to give them a chance of hitting an operational one. After a brief pause a response did come in the holo pad projected the ships commanding officer. He did not give his name but did however smiled in a way that would make most men think to be a grimace, and merely laughed as the ship slipped away into light speed. The Aquarius followed immediately tracing ionized energy particles left by the ship. Soon they found themselves upon a vast solar system apart from UW territory. Everyone saw the horror, an armada of UNSC ships from battle cruisers to small shuttles it was all here, another base. Two much larger ships hung about boasting a very large array of Mark VIII MAC cannons. They sat quiet and motionless. The Aquarius' entry seemed un-noticed for that small window of time, then, was hit by a sudden barrage of missile fire and other projectiles. Littering space with no sound but only hundreds of thousands of small rounds ripped though the empty space inflicting a surprising amount of damage to the Aquarius
"Shields !" yelled the captain and then shouted once more, "deploy counter measures recall our fighters we have to hold our position until they can return I'm not leaving them behind !" instantly the shield came up and the shimmer was quick to follow as the bullets slammed into them.
"All fighters report back NOW do not engage repeat do not engage, do NOT fire unless fired upon!" came a shout over the comm. by O'Malley. The fighters reacted quickly in breaking off their pursuit if in one and scurried back toward the ship.
"Sir shields holding at 65% if we keep taking fire like this we can be more laxed about the time strain here... SHIT, they fired, they fired a ...a.... Dwarf Star class Nuke!" the tech officer did his best to keep the horrific truth to himself and almost cracked but brought himself back together.
"All hands evasive maneuvers evasive maneuvers!" the crew reacted fast and with the help of Cortana they swung about and stared down at the nuke. "open the front access grate on my say, I have an idea" said Lewis calmly, the front access grate was a large 12x18 foot automated door to allow engineers to reach the MAC cannon housed in the bow of the ship.
One of the men on the bridge yelled almost incoherently "Captain!? Are you mad that will kill us all we can't take a hit like..." the captain interrupted
"Ramirez on my mark I want you to angle the ships bow downward at a 48 degree angle"
"Got it" he replied.
"Bolster shields down" said the captain, He apprehensively complied
The captain then spoke to Cortana "Cortana in tune I want you to depressurize the compartment understood?"
"Aye captain" came her response there they sat motionless as the captain had ordered. By now the crew thinking he had finally lost it, but they were loyal and if were to do down with anyone they'd gladly pick him instead of the painful plasma burns they would probably receive otherwise. The nuke tore closer and closer with every second. Tension choked the air about the ship; no one knew exactly what the captain had up his sleeve. The weapons tech counted
"800M..........400M...........200M sir 3 seconds!"
"Open the doors" squawked the captain
"NOW!" yelled the captain Cortana and the crew acted in unison the ship pitched just right as its emergency thruster was used by Ramirez. The depressurization caused by Cortana completely stopped the nuke just long enough for the ship to emplace itself at such an angle. The entire crew braced as the nuke righted itself.
"Shields up now do it now!" screamed Lewis.
The shields instantly sprung to life and the nuke contacted at just the right position and slipped. Its perpetual motion changed so it was heading down as it slid off the Aquarius' shields without detonating. Meanwhile the fighters had managed to regroup and headed away form the battle, knowing all well enough they'd be picked up by their captain. The crew cheered their captain; shouts came all across the bridge as Cortana took the responsibility of taking back control of the ship and positioned it to leave.
"Damn it man..." O'Malley said under his breath he eyed the captain and realized the amount of sweat that had appeared on his face in the last moments.
Lewis almost direly said "Cortana repay these assholes for me, take out as many as possible and get us out of HERE!"
Cortana delighted to finally do something armed all the PCRG's (Particle Charged Rail Guns). They sprang to life erupting enormous flashes marked by the expulsion of super hot particles. Cortana painted the enemy fighters just ahead of their flight paths, the velocity of the beams did the rest Hundreds of mini explosions popped up as longsword after longsword broke into large flaming wrecks. The opposing ships then started to move in a massive confused formation. Ramirez saw something; a tiny light was heading straight up the middle of where the ships had been, it took very little time to realize it was their nuke they had launched. It had somehow re- engaged its targeting sensors and apparently found its home, all the ships were moving to avoid certain death
"Hahaha there ya go a present for you guys hahaha bastards!" came O'Malley's shout
"How are the shields" asked Lewis.
"Back to 46% it would have been 60 but the blunt hit form the nuke took em a little lower" answered the weapons tech
"Are we good for a dwarf class Nuke?" asked Lewis
"NO sir, I say we get the hell out of here" said the tech officer
"Ramirez take us out of here, don't forget our squadrons"
"Aye Sir"
He boasted, as the Aquarius fled at top speed a blinding white light filled the space around them. Then a ripple that seemed to be miniscule sped towards the ship and upon impact took out the shields in a brilliant display, the shields buckled but clung to the shockwave as it hit the ship. The shields vaporized without a constant energy source and the Aquarius took a major blow and began to tumble end over end. Cortana did her best and exclaimed
"Captain we are in big trouble operational systems are down to 42% we have lost all weapons and most the propulsion systems. Sir we are going to have to put this ship down" Lewis braced and held himself, he strained a short nod
She thought quietly to her self, ah no not again. Meanwhile the chief was woken by the sudden jostle; he hurried to get into his armor which was squared away next to his bunk when the captain came over the PA
"This is it boys we are going down, however we are not jumping ship I'm taking her down with Cortana"
John swore under his breath and checked his weapons and slung his rifle and shot out the door. He bolted his way at top speed to the bridge and as he arrived saw the extent of what was going on.
"Cortana use the last of our emergency thrusters to stop this tumble, and see if you can give me coordinates to the nearest safe place to land" Lewis said
"On it" she replied stressfully John stayed out of the way as he watched the bustle of the crew. He felt his stomach lurch upwards he grabbed the top of the bulk head and braced himself. As awkward as it felt he was glad the AI was able to supply enough counter thrust to sufficiently stop the tumble.
"For Christ sakes Cortana" shot Lewis, Cortana cut in
"Sorry I did my best, my calculations called for it, I managed to pretty much stop the ships tumble but we still need a place to settle. Scanning, she paused a whole 2 seconds and then blurted, there this planet seems to be stable, its similar to earth but form what I can access it's uninhabited" she said as she brought a picture up on the half lit battle screen.
"Good take us in" said Lewis. The ship moved at an odd angle as a result of less then half her engines working. More or less you could have called it a controlled lob as it carried itself toward Cortana's designated path. Sensors chimed as the planet came within proximity.
"Ok here's your test men lets take her down gently". With Ramirez at the helm it was without doubt they would be ok, Lewis knew that. There was a sense of despair accompanied by panic as the ship plummeted toward the Planets surface. The crew kept it together as the still air and overall serenity of the sky was suddenly torn apart by the large object. Clearly the Ship wasn't built to spec on atmospheric maneuverability. Cortana had a hell of a time keeping them stabilized on their final approach; their designated landing strip was a high desert plateau. The ship dropped lower and hung heading straight on target when, Cortana yelped
"We're going to lose here, Sir I can't......" she paused under strain. Lewis swore sharply under his breath as he was powerless. Ramirez grunted and fought harshly to keep the Ship from doing an extravagant Crazy Ivan into the plateau. The Aquarius came down in a thunderous roar and demolished the front edge beginning the plateau. Large boulders toppled outwardly as dust kicked up, the titanium polymer hit with a spine tingling crunch and laid the ship down on its belly carving hard into the ground. Small explosions dotted the hull as the ship slid roughly forward. Everyone inside however was thrown and jostled, and every once in a while a bone jarring shake would transit the length of the ship. The ship caught itself a time or two but slowly stopped and settled leaning over to its port side, it remained for the most part upright.
Lewis brought himself to one knee, winced and coughed up blood. Great he thought, though it did go MUCH better then he planned. "report!" he yelled. The rest of the crew on the bridge either dusted themselves off or helped with wounded. Cortana came up on the holopad very fuzzy but as able to make her appearance and exclaim
"20% casualties and from what I can make out, thankfully, our engine room is still good to go and our communications grid works, not a scrap of anything else"
"What about our inventory and our fighters did they make it?" asked Lewis who by now was able to stand on his own and service a wound on his left fore arm. John had also stepped in unscathed as his shields took the blunt of the damage.
Cortana chimed in, "our troop inventory is still checking in. she let a sigh out, So far we are squared away that was one impressive landing we undertook I must say even against the odds we did fair, as for our fighters I'm picking up only 110 on our communication channels". Dust settled as one of the planets multiple suns was beginning to set, casting an offset shade to the planet's surface and the Aquarius remained stable. "radio chatter is light coming from the fighters, from what I can see they will do just fine, and are one their way ETA 36 minutes sir" remarked Cortana. Lewis gazed blankly outside the clear panels to catch a glimpse of the place he and the rest of his crew would be calling home for the next few days.
Unexpected Surprises Part 6
Date: 16 July 2003, 1:01 AM
Pondering the thought (what now?) for what seemed to be quite a while Lewis turned as the last bit of sunlight slipped under the horizon, though an aura of dusk still clung to the air. He beckoned John over to him and struck a conversation with him. O'Malley found his way to Lewis and John whom were conversing quietly. "Sir, hell of a job .... What do you have in mind now?" the captain fondly responded with a gesture towards Ramirez who was helping his partner at the helm who was meticulously keying in something at his station.
"You should really thank him, Cortana admitted to me that without his efforts we would have gone nose first into the side of this plateau and not where we are now, needless to say we all owe him great thanks. As for now I don't see any harm in using our ship as a field HQ, do you?"
"Well sir under the circumstances I would have to agree, though we should get right to it incase anyone decides to come have a look see" said O'Malley in a soft tone.
"I'll get right to it then" said the Master Chief as he turned on heel and left the bridge to track down the rest of his Spartan team to do a little recon.
"That man, definitely odd, but I'm glad he is with us" said O'Malley as he looked around the bridge. The next few hours went like clock work there was even enough room to squeeze some clean up time into the jumble going on, in fact you could barely tell they had just crash landed from the inside, if you were outside it was a different story. A perimeter was effectively set up by the Spartans which was pointed out by a pair of Warthogs coming within sight every so often.
The tough job of setting up a fuel depot was left to the ship's engineers who all seemed to be working very diligently. Pelicans helped maneuver tanks and other heavy equipment into place as a forward staging area was created. While all the organization was going on mechanics and other personnel tended to their ambient jobs, if you were to survey the sight from afar you'd see anything from pelicans moving to a fro, to mechanics disassembling a broken 60mm tank turret with tank treads laid out across the area. It was rigorous but the crew managed to set up a decent looking HQ in a very short time.
Then the Fighters all 110 of them came in groups of 6, the blazing roar of the engines caused most to look upwards at the incoming pride of their fighter wings. Each came in and did a large angled turn and then settled in a line to enter the Aquarius and dock. Only 18 Razortooth fighters had to be cared for outside the Aquarius due to damage. The scene was unfolding as if it where a normal every day thing to crash land on a planet. Lewis helped with restoring the bridge to a 75% operating level, which included Cortana's holopad. This was obvious due to her constant appearances and articulate thinking aloud in self contained bouts before she actually became of some use. She worked her ass off restoring the other more complicated 25% of damaged materials such as computer terminals and main system bus(s).
O'Malley came to Lewis for his action report and as usual was a bit hastened by the constant calling of his name, or the introduction to a problem that required his presence. "Sir we have everything you ordered combat ready and standing by, as well as food rationed out to our boys, in all ... everything is fit to pass inspection sir" O'Malley said as he used a dirty towel from his back pocket to wipe some grease from his blackened hands. He looked up at Lewis after approving he had cleaned his hands enough; tension could clearly be seen in him. Lewis watched in a bleak way, then responded,
"Ok O'Malley we haven't seen anything threatening to us other then a (would be) mistake......"
"What would that be sir?" question O'Malley
"Me over working you boys till I don't have anything to fight with" said Lewis who gave a reassuring smile and continued... "Let everyone know that I have, effective immediately, changed their shifts to 7 hours now instead of 11, you guys surprised me, you all are way ahead of schedule so you boys deserve some R&R"
"Sir, yes sir, take it easy yourself we need you if anything gets sticky"
"Bah you get outta here" Lewis said while laughing "I know I'm old but not that old heh"
O'Malley exited while chuckling to himself as two MP's snapped to attention as he exited the bridge. He walked down several corridors before coming to a service elevator. He stepped inside and heaved a large sigh then reached and pressed the access terminal. Upon activation the elevator plummeted downward toward the ground level. As it reached the bottom of the shaft the elevator slowed until its full stop was signaled by a soft bump and the opening of the doors. O'Malley stepped out and was immediately assaulted by hot, humid, almost stingy air. The breeze was soft yet seemed ominous of a storm, O'Malley closed his eyes and remembered Texas back home, as a kid he would be found outside always perusing some type of childish game, it had been so long since he felt a breeze like such. He was jerked out of this reminiscence by a Cpl jogging up to him, offered a salute and said,
"Sir, Can I help you?"
"No Cpl, actually I can help you..." said O'Malley in a suggestive way
"What are you getting at sir?" answered the Cpl
"Well something along the lines of a comfortable bed and a couple blankets involved accompanied by a nicely made meal" answered O'Malley. He gave a smile that seemed to match the thoughts going through the Cpl's mind.
"Hell yes!, sorry sir, must excuse me I'll let everyone else know send our thanks to the Cap'em for me eh mate?" without a pause for a response the Cpl took off running and quickly spread the word. O'Malley smiled once more and began a slow meander around the staging area. People where already taking advantage of the welcomed news and were sprawled out on the ground next to their tools or propped back on two chair legs snoring heavily. A few, it seemed more like a skeleton crew, of people were still awake and gave gestures of acknowledgement whenever O'Malley was spotted, clearly they were very tired. He continued along until he saw a large man with a very muscular build who was cleaning his armor. It wasn't until O'Malley got around to the front of the man and looked back did he realize it was John.
He did almost a double take; John didn't take notice of him as he was inspecting his helmet which seemed to have been bent oddly. Only when O'Malley stumbled over a large rifle which had been partially dismantled did John look up and without surprise said "Lt, what brings you this way?"
O'Malley who was still startled to seeing John out of his armor, he was normal, just like any other soldier, I was almost frightening to O'Malley, but he suppressed this feeling and answered,
"Hello Chief, I was just down here spreading the good news, the Captain approved of some R&R, I guess we all really needed it after all" he looked up into the night and observed a sky clogged with stars, much more then you could ever see on earth.
"well that's good to hear, I don't care much for rest, I never got used to it, but I am glad we are off that ship, I don't like ships, too cramped" said John as he wrestled with his helmet and upon hearing a loud snap he nodded approvingly and set it aside.
Then something slammed into the tent John had pitched some yards away from where O'Malley was standing. A large explosion followed mere seconds after impact, sending large chunks of upturned soil into the air, dust fell as O'Malley grabbed his left leg, spun to his left and fell backwards. Then a second round came in closer to O'Malley's position it gave the sound of a waffle ball but then gave a sinister hum like it was vibrating. It too detonated shortly after impact and sent more dirt and stone into the air. John who had already moved from his sitting position to a determined strafe in O'Malley's direction with his MA5C assault rifle shouldered. "GET DOWN! ....... INCOMMING" yelled a frantic marine who was holding his rifle with only boxers on. John rolled to his right as a round tore over his body and slammed into the ground ahead of his original destination. O'Malley was now on his stomach moaning clearly injured once more.
John jumped back to his feet and made way to the Lt. he dashed and then knelt down over O'Malley. He could see a small trickle of blood coming from his mouth, then he carefully picked him up and carried him at his waist. The MC turned and made a bee line for his armor he hastily slung his rifle while pausing only to put on his helmet he picked his armor up and continued on a mad dash for cover. All the time shell after shell hitting the grounds about the area sending debris everywhere, then, the first casualty a marine took the blunt of an explosion to save his friend and was thrown 45 feet like a rag doll and then landed hard obviously dead. The strain was clearly visible as John carried a 175 pound officer in his left arm and nearly 1000 pounds of armor in his right.
"What the hell is going on!?....... damnit!" a marine shouted as another shell hit near by.
"Move back, take a defensive posture I want everyone on either side of the center stay together, I want a sniper team down here on the double we need to find out where this is coming from.... Move move move!" shouted a Sgt. who was also half dressed but holding his rifle at the ready. The confusion did not last but at most, four minutes, the shelling of the grounds had continued and showed no signs of stopping. The marines moved back a hundred feet or so before they took up safe positions for defending the ship. They also had managed to set up a cover system to dress themselves in their armor, a group would cover another group whom where putting on their armor.
John managed to make his way to the medic's tent and laid O'Malley on an empty cot. He looked up to find two medics running over to assist him, he spoke quickly,
"He took a piece in the leg, more shelling hit near by so a concussion might be present, get on your radio and inform the captain that I am going to handle this" with that he left the tent and suited his armor remarkably fast while moving back towards the front. With a little pat to his head, his helmet's HUD display flickered to life the motion sensors instantly light up with movement both friend and foe. He brought up his rifle and ran to a warthog which was being commandeered by a pair of marines he jumped onto the back end and took a solid stance as one of the marines greeted him. The driver slammed his foot to the floor and the warthog shot out of its bay they headed for a small ridge just beyond the staging area as they reached it they suddenly went air borne. The marine riding shotgun gave a cheer as they landed hard, enough to bring the bumper low enough to scrape at the sand. Once they were moving again they were able to spot big long flashes of light, obviously the artillery that was attacking them.
"Blimey look at tha'..... what are we gonna do Chief?"
"There at your 9 o'clock, let's pair up with them and go check it out" John said as he patched a comm. link to the other warthogs that were racing in their direction. The driver saw them and swung his own hog around and headed to meet up with the others. John spoke to the warthog that seemed it would meet with them first. "Who is in charge out here!?" he yelled.
"Master Chief that would be me Major Davis Commander of the 203rd Cortana has a grid map of this area let's see if we can't call an air strike"
"Yes sir I'll assume point....." John was cut short by Major Davis
"That won't be necessary chief I have a better idea, follow me" the warthog carrying the MC turned about once more and followed Major Davis back up and around to the Pelican bays. Davis jumped out of his hog and gave a smile as he thumbed in the direction of four fully loaded Pelicans; each had a warthog attached to it. Davis and John both ran to the lead Pelican and jumped in, Davis raised his arm and gave two short twirls. The pilot call signed (Thumper) gave his acknowledgement by raising his own arm, and took off. Three other Pelicans followed, they tore through the night sky while Davis gave a chat to his men via universal comm. link. "Alright men this is it, looks like no more R&R I want you boys sharp and careful we have to plant these (he held a small device in his hand looking similar to a small cone) along the base of their entrenchment, our hogs will be our cover if you get into any kind of trouble radio us and we'll pick you up" just then a stifled ping following by a shutter in the aircraft's flight path marked they'd been hit. Thumper came over the comm. channel,
"We've been hit something in the left aileron I think we can make it"
"Son of a Bitch,...... son of a fucking bitch I just had this thing fixed!, those dirty whores, ok boys new plan kill as many as you can while planting these things ride em hard boys!" yelled Davis
"We are here LZ's hot watch yourselves" thumper said under stress. The Pelican swiveled but didn't touch the ground, the three others followed suit, and marines poured out of them and manned their warthogs.
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