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The Revelation of War, Chapter One: Part I
Posted By: russ687<russ687@hotmail.com>
Date: 15 July 2004, 9:50 PM
Read/Post Comments
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Chapter One: Third Eye
0945 hours, September 6, 2552 (Military Calendar)
Aboard UNSC Orbital Ship Yard Station
Renard Prime System, in orbit above planet Westwind
Captain Gary Rayford nodded for the officers to enter the large conference room. The trio of UNSC ships, the Melbourne, Triton, and his own the Valiant Knight, had made the one week journey out of the no-name system to the Renard System, where a surprised orbital station allowed them to dock and carry out repairs on the vessels.
Rayford understood completely now what the ONI major had told him on the journey back from Milestone; he understood the importance of the artifact they retrieved and also now the capabilities it gave them. In a weird twist of events they had seen what was going to happen, not only to Reach, but to the two ships carrying the second artifact out of Reach.
Why the artifacts seemed to attract to each other he had no clue. The simple capabilities it had were even further beyond his comprehension, but he knew that it was now his task, joined in by the two other Captains and their ships, to protect the artifacts at all costs. And a gut feeling inside told him that they would also be the ones to search for the third.
He leaned back and thought as the officer's filed into the conference room and took seats around the large metal table. How were they tied into this? He would have liked to think that he was chosen for the initial mission to Milestone because he was available and the most capable Captain at hand. But now he had had time to think about the events that had encompassed them; was fate a part to play in this? Was there some other motives by a higher hand working the events out in the order they had seen so far?
The simple fact that they had been able to save the Melbourne, and more importantly the artifact on board, was more then pure chance and coincidence. The artifact they had aboard had showed them what was going to happen and how to prevent it. His mind flashed back the memories of seeing the artifact light up and show the battle between the Covenant and the Melbourne, and he remembered seeing that ship being destroyed by the enemy cruiser. He remembered seeing the thousands of crewmen die aboard it, and he remembered seeing the Covenant find the ship's precious cargo. If that had been reality, they would have lost Earth, along with every other colony.
If that had been real; he would be dead.
But it wasn't real, they had stopped that chain of events from occurring. But the fact still remained, if he hadn't received that late night call from ONI almost three months ago to go on the mission to Milestone, how would that have changed the future of humanity? How many lives were saved by his simple act of picking up that phone that late night?
How much of chance did that simple call give humanity?
Rayford stopped thinking about it as the final officers filed into the conference room and took a seat. The table was now nearly full with men who wanted to know what was happening; almost half of them had been on the brink of being killed a week ago.
"Captain Jonathon Baker, nice to see you in person." Rayford said.
The Captain of the Melbourne nodded.
"And Captain Samuel Scorzio," Rayford said, nodding towards the Captain just taking a seat.
The man nodded, silently taking a seat.
Rayford turned and looked at the entire group of officers lining the table. Many were executive staff members aboard the three ships, but all were anxious to find out what had happened and what these artifacts were. Rayford knew, but he withheld any comment; the ONI spooks would have plenty to tell.
Silence ensued for a moment until a group of officers entered the room. He recognized the Major that had been on his own ship for the last couple months, and also another higher-ranking officer. He had seen the man before but couldn't put a name with the face.
They group was followed by several other officers and they moved towards the head of the room. The Major and the Lieutenant Colonel set up behind some podiums at the head while the rest stood off to the side. The ship officers waited patiently for the ONI personnel to share their information. The situation reminded Rayford of a similar briefing that he got months earlier.
"Good morning, my name is Lieutenant Colonel Jared Reinker, of the Office of Naval Intelligence, Deputy Commander, Section VI." The highest ranking officer said. Rayford thought about what Section VI did but couldn't remember. Or maybe he never knew.
"This is one of my colleges from Section VI, Major Senderling." Reinker, said, pointing at the ONI Major beside him. "And some of our subordinates," he pointed to the Lieutenants along the wall. "Now that you know who we are, let's begin with why we are here.
"I know Captain Rayford is aware of our situation, but I shall pass it onto you as well so we are all on the same page. I must stress, however, that the information you are about to receive is highly classified and may not leave this room. The balance of the war depends on it."
Reinker looked at each officer, the pause reinforcing his point. "We are here because of the evacuation of the artifact that was previously on Reach, obviously. But you may want to know the origin of where this started."
Reinker explained the discovery of the first artifact during World War III, then of its uses throughout the years following, until the artifact gave them knowledge, with aid from the artifact found at Cote 'd Azur, about the location of a second artifact. The ONI Major then took over and explained Operation Gallant Strife and the mission to Milestone. Then he told of their return journey and then of the foresight of the battle in the Alpha 1265+90 System.
The ONI officers watched as the men sitting at the table stared at them in disbelief, save one. Reinker expected this from officers who, before these events took place, were running patrols and engaging the Covenant in normal space skirmishes. The change from normality to this new reality was not something anyone excepted easily. They will soon see, he thought.
"What we have here," Reinker said after a brief silence in the room. "Is a mission that we must fulfill. Gallant Strife is not over yet, all the artifacts have not be recovered. All of you in this room are now part of this operation, and with the recent events at Reach, I doubt we will be getting in reinforcements or support."
Baker spoke up. "So these artifacts enable us to see into the future?"
Reinker and the Major nodded.
Baker grunted in disbelief. "So we have something that allows us to see into the future, and I guess now we have two of them. What's left to do? Let's use them to win the war."
"There's a third," Reinker said. "And, in case you've been out of the loop, we have been using them to win the war. I'm not going to go into details, but the point still stands that we need to recover the third artifact. It is imperative that the Covenant do not find it, because if they do, they will be able to locate the two we already have, and with the combined strength of the three..."
Baker shook his head. "Combined strength?"
Reinker nodded. "They were designed to work together."
Baker was about to speak but Reinker held up his hand. "Captain, we simply do not have time for this. You must trust me and understand that the three of these put together hold some sort of supernatural force. And to answer any question you might have: No, we do not know who made them or who scattered them across the galaxy, we do not know why one was on Earth, and we do not know how they work or why they show us certain things. We have no control over what it shows us or when, we only have possession over it. We must find the last one, and quickly."
"So where is it?" Captain Scorzio asked.
Reinker stared at the Captain. "We will know, and we will know soon."
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